


Eden Ashley Chronicles

by Eden_Ashley_Chr



Category: CSI: NY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:27:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24147385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eden_Ashley_Chr/pseuds/Eden_Ashley_Chr
Summary: This is one of my original fics, that's been on FF for years.Decided to transfer it across here, and update / edit out as many of the mistakes as possible.Detective Eden Ashley arrives at the New York Crime lab, and stirs things up, initially for Stella Bonasera, who is shocked to find herself having feelings for the newest, female member of the team.Warning - this fic depicts Stella in a F/F relationship - if that's not your thing, don't read!Disclaimer: CSI New York and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. No infringement is intended. Eden Ashley is an original character. All mine.
Relationships: Stella Bonasera / Other Female Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter One

She’s been in the elevator for mere minutes. She can feel the nerves bubbling up inside of her. She stares fixated on the pale metal doors, waiting in anticipation for them to open. Knowing that when they do she’ll have finally arrived at her new home, her new life. The ‘ding’ of the elevator, breaks her from her thoughts. She swallows down her nerves as the doors slide open, and she’s here, no turning back now. Welcome to New York Detective Eden Ashley.

Detective Ashley steps out into the lab, and surveys her new surroundings, a mish mash of mustard coloured walls and glass. She muses, that it’s certainly a lot more modern than her last lab back in Detroit, and a lot busier. People scuttling around like ants, no one really noticing that she’s even here. The nature of working in a huge city she supposes. 

She realises that she’s been standing in the corridor taking in her surroundings for an abnormal amount of time, and if anyone had taken the time to notice her, she would look kind of crazy, and kind of lost. She spy’s the reception desk and moves towards the small blonde woman manning it, she has a hugely over enthusiastic grin, but Ashley decides she looks pleasant enough.

“Welcome to the New York Crime Lab Ma’am. Can I help you?”

Ashley smirks at the use of the word Ma’am; it makes her feel like the Queen of England, and a little older than she’s comfortable with, given that she’s only 30 years old.

“Hi. I’m Detective Eden Ashley. I’m here to see Detective Mac Taylor.” Ashley reveals her old Detroit PD badge to the receptionist to confirm her latest statement. The receptionists smile grows even wider, she seems almost excited. 

“Detective Ashley, welcome to New York. Detective Taylor is expecting you; you can go right on ahead into his office.” The still unnamed receptionist, motions with her head towards a series of glass walls and doors, to her left. Ashley follows her shrug with her eyes, “Thanks very much.” Ashley smiles warmly back at the petite woman, then heads in the direction of Mac’s office.

The feeling from the elevator resurfaces, in the pit of her stomach. Nerves or excitement, she can’t quite put her finger on it. Whatever it is it doesn’t matter, she’s here now. She swallows the butterflies, and looks into Mac’s office; Mac is leaning over his desk engrossed in a file. Ashley has heard so much about Mac and his team here in New York. She jumped at the chance to move here and work with them all. Apparently her reputation preceded her as well, she hadn’t even met Mac yet and he’d given her the job. It adds an amount of pressure, to an already difficult situation, but she’s more than ready for the challenge. She just hopes she can live up to expectations, and not let Mac’s faith in her down. It’s always been a dream of hers to end up in New York, she loves this city.

Ashley gently knocks on the glass door. Mac looks up from the folder, a beaming smile hits his face, as soon as he sees her, and he waves her in excitedly.

“Detective Ashley. Welcome to New York.” Mac stands and offers his hand to Ashley as he’s speaking, she gratefully accepts it, a matching grin erupts onto her face, apparently Mac’s smile is infectious. He continues to speak. “How are you finding it so far?”

“Great, well I have only been back here for two days, but I can tell already that crime in the Big Apple will certainly be a lot different to Detroit. A much faster pace.” She can’t help but smile back at Mac, his face is so full of warmth. It’s at this point Ashley starts to relax, and feels she has made the correct decision to leave Detroit. It’s immediately comfortable and familiar here. She always knew leaving her comfort zone, and her friends and colleagues back in Detroit was going to be challenging, no doubt, but she’s getting the feeling she won’t regret it.

“Are you all moved into your apartment?”

“Well all my stuff is there. Whether you would call it ‘moved in’ I’m not sure. I think I’ll be living out of boxes for a while.” Ashley mentally glances to the scene at her apartment currently. Mayhem is the first word that springs to mind. Mac just laughs.

“Well if you need a hand, I and any of the guys here will be happy to help. Speaking of which, I think it’s time I introduced you to the team. I’ve not sent them on assignment yet. They're waiting for us in the lab.”

Mac starts frantically scooping papers from his desk into his arms. “With all this happening so fast, I haven’t actually told them that you will be joining us. I thought it would be a nice surprise. You’re going to be be such a great asset to this lab.”

“Thanks Mac. I’m glad you think so. I’m really excited to be here.” Ashley inwardly cringes, ‘excited to be here’ deary me, real first day on the job speak. She follows Mac out of the office and they head to the main lab.

XXXXXXXXX

Stella is sitting rather impatiently in the main lab, along with Danny, Lindsay and Hawkes; and she is pissed. She has no idea what's going on, and the fact that Mac has left her out of the loop, is infuriating her. That she's now being made to wait, is serving to wind her up even more. Her anger must be apparent, as none of the guys have said two words to her, in fact they haven’t said two words to each other either, and they look kinda scared.

Eventually Mac strides into the room, with another as yet unidentified person. Stella has no idea who she is, but she does look vaguely familiar.

Mac and Ashley stand at the head of the room, Ashley starts to feel a little uncomfortable at the four sets of inquisitive eyes currently fixated on her. That is until she spots one of the expressions, less inquisitive, more downright pissed off. A woman she guesses around 35 years old, curly hair. This definitely has to be Stella Bonasera. Ashley has heard a lot of good things, and had been really excited about working with her. Until now.

Stella has about a million and one questions racing through her brain. She still has no idea what’s going on, or who this woman is. She hopes someone is going to offer an explanation soon. She continues to wrack her brain to try and figure out why this woman looks so familiar. Mac begins to speak, so she may well be about to get her explanation. She tears her eyes from the mysterious stranger, and focuses on Mac.

“Thanks for your patience guys, I’ve got your assignments here and I promise I will send you on your way in a second.” Mac has the attention of the whole room. Everyone looks confused, except Ashley, who still wishes the ground would open up and swallow her. All her pleasant thoughts from earlier have been melted away by Stella Bonasera’s disgruntled glare.

Mac continues. “I just wanted to introduce you to the newest member of the team. This is detective Eden Ashley; she’s joining us from the crime lab in Detroit.” Ashley tries her best to force an uncomfortable smile onto her face, while the rest of the room digests this information.

The penny immediately drops for Stella. On hearing her name she knows exactly where she knows Eden Ashley from; Crime Scene Digest. She was named as one of the top ten CSI’s under 30 in the US. This is quite a coup for the lab, Stella is almost impressed. At least she would be if she wasn’t in the world’s worst bad mood.

“Wait a sec, you’re Detective Ashley? I just finished reading a paper of yours about digital evidence gathering. It was excellent.” This woman is genuinely excited. This causes Ashley to pull her glance from Stella, who still by the way looks like she wants to kill her, and acknowledge the kind stranger Well at least one woman in the lab likes me, is Ashley’s current thought. The woman grabs her hand to shake it, whilst smiling warmly at her.

Ashley again can’t help but grin back at Lindsay, damn what is it with these people and their infectious smiles?

“I can’t believe you’re gonna be working here. I’m Lindsay by the way.”

She makes a mental note of the name; it won’t be too hard to distinguish between her two female colleagues. Lindsay equals ‘the nice one’.

“Nice to meet you Lindsay. I’m glad you liked my paper, it’s kind of my speciality. I’d be happy to talk over anything you’re interested, now that I’m here.” Ashley again inwardly cringes at the niceties tumbling from her lips, not that she isn’t nice of course, but it all just seems a bit fake on her first day. 

“That would be so awesome.” Lindsay is still ginning like an idiot, when one of her new male colleagues moves past her and offers his hand to Ashley.

“Hi I’m Danny, Lindsay’s husband.” Ashley takes his hand still smiling; her jaw is actually starting to ache. Danny continues.

“Welcome to the team. So you’re moving here from Detroit huh, but that accent, what is that British?” Ashley was wondering how long it would take for someone to pick up on her accent, although she had been in the states since she was 16, she is quite proud of the fact she’s managed to keep her accent alive, well just about anyway.

“Yeah, English. I was born in Chicago, but moved to the UK when I was a baby. Moved back here at 16, but I guess the accent was already ingrained by then.” Danny seems satisfied with the answer, and at this point Mac begins to talk again.

“And she comes highly recommended, as I’m sure you all know.” Ashley really isn’t sure how much of this she can take, everybody signing her praises. She’s just itching to get out into the field now. She’s aware of course there are still two members of the team she hasn’t formally been introduced too. Although it seems as though this is about to change.

Stella had been quiet, maybe a little too quiet, watching all of the interactions in front of her. It seems that Ashley isn’t the only one unimpressed with all the praise she’s been getting. Stella’s bad mood is about to take off. She can’t quite put her finger on why, but this Detective Ashley is really getting under her skin, who does she think she is?

“Mac, we can’t afford to take on another CSI, the budget won’t allow it.”

Well that certainly sucked the air out of the room. Ouch. The smile immediately drops from Ashley’s face. A weird tension descends on the room, nobody really knows where to look or what to do, except Mac who looks furious, and whose glare is firmly on Stella. Stella of course notices the sudden change of mood in the room, and is struggling to figure out exactly why she has just said what she has. But oh well there’s no going back now.

“Well, when I found out Detective Ashley was available, I looked over the budget and some adjustments were made. . .” Ashley can tell Mac is angry, he’s speaking through clenched teeth. He also looks kind of shocked. In fairness, she can’t believe just how rude Stella is being, she decides she needs to show the team that she not scared to stand up for herself, defend her own honour, here goes nothing.

“I’ve actually taken a pay cut to come here.” She says it a lot more determinedly than she feels.

Stella can’t shake the mood, and before her brain has a chance to kick in and stop her, “Well unless you’re working for free, the budget won’t allow it.”

Ouch again. Well that told her. Ashley tries her best to cover the hurt she’s feeling, not to mention the current burst of regret she’s having about taking the job. But Stella notices the flash of hurt on Ashley’s face, it was only there for a second, but she saw it. Her heart sinks, what on earth am I doing, why can’t I snap out of this mood? Once again however stupid pride and stubbornness get in her way; Stella and Ashley just stand facing each other, mirroring scowls, both defiant.

“Stella we can discuss this later in my office. Right guys, Danny, Hawkes, there's a D.B. in the Bronx, I’ll meet you there. Lindsay, why don’t you and Detective Ashley take the suspicious circs. in Time Square? Stella, my office now.”

Stella knows she’s totally in the wrong. But she’s committed now, so she just huffs out of the office, closely followed by Mac. Ashley watches her leave, and then turns to Lindsay and smiles, relieved that they can finally get out on assignment.

“She’s not usually like that; she’s actually a really nice person.” Lindsay is trying her best to reassure Ashley. She’s not really buying what Lindsay’s saying, but she swallows down her disappointment.

“Maybe it’s just me she doesn’t like.” She smiles weakly at Lindsay, and looks away. Hawkes quickly introduces himself, before leaving with Danny.

Ashley can’t help but feel confused; this certainly wasn’t the start to the day she was expecting. Especially not from Stella, she was one of the main reason’s Ashley wanted to come to New York. Things can only get better.

XXXXXXXXX

Mac strides into his office. He is furious, and Stella knows it; she’s messed up big time. Mac moves round his desk, whilst Stella just stands sheepishly in front of it, arms folded and staring at the floor.

“What the hell is wrong with you Stella?” Stella knows she’s acted like a spoilt brat, so she doesn’t speak, she just continues to look at the floor, hoping it will swallow her up.

“You know that Detective Ashley is one of the best young CSI’s in the country. She could have had her pick of crime labs in America, hell the whole world. I thought you of all people would have understood me adjusting the budget to get her?”

“I do Mac, really I do.”

“I don’t think you do Stella. Appointing Eden Ashley is a coup for this lab. The main reason she wanted to work here was to work with us. Now she’s going to be regretting that decision.”

“Okay, okay Mac I get it. I’m in an awful mood today, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on her, I will find her and make it better, I promise.” Great, she thinks now I’ve gotta go sucking up to the new kid on her first day. She shakes her head and internally berates herself, she really needs to snap out of this mood.

With that thought she turns to leave Mac’s office. Mac looks up from where he’s now seated behind his desk. “Oh and Stella, snap out of this mood, I need you to head down to Time Square, and supervise Lindsay and Ashley. Be Nice.”

Stella just smiles apologetically at Mac, and heads out of the lab. She still can’t quite put her finger on why she’s acted like such a bitch with Ashley, there is definitely something about her. Something which she decides she can figure out later. She needs to put this right, and fast.

XXXXXXXXX

Ashley and Lindsay had just finished processing the scene; it was a newsagent in Time Square. The assistant who worked behind the counter had gone missing. They have a lead so they’re just getting ready to leave and head off to another location. As they step out of store, Ashley sees Stella has joined them. She’s currently stood chatting to the lead Detective, who Ashley still hasn’t been properly introduced to. 

“Oh cool, Stella is here, let’s put this truck,” Lindsay gestures towards the evidence, “And I’ll introduce you to Detective Flack.”

Stella notices the two CSI’s emerge from the building, she frowns, she is not looking forward to this. She know’s she only has herself to blame. She pulls her sunglasses off, as Ashley and Lindsay make their way over towards them. 

When they finally arrive, Lindsay is all smiles, Ashley still looks a little worried, and Stella can certainly understand this.

“Okay, Ashley,” Lindsay begins, “This is detective Flack; he works closely with our shift so you’ll see a lot of him.”

Flack repeats the pattern that’s been going on all day and extends his hand to Ashley, which again she accepts. She smiles at Flack, she knows she’s going to like this guy; she usually gets on with guys better than girls.

“Pleased to meet you Detective Flack.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

Ashley has to laugh at his clear over confidence. “Smooth.” 

He smiles sheepishly but takes it with the good banter it was intended. Stella watches the exchange between the two of them, it makes her feel weird, and just confirms that she was actually being a bitch earlier, Ashley seems really easy to get along with. She decides she needs to make things right as soon as possible.

“So what’s happening guys?”

Lindsay updates Stella. “Well shots have been fired in there, but there's no sign of blood, and no sign of the girl who should have been in work. We’ve collected some trace, and the bullets, and we’ve had a tip off about the missing girls’ boyfriend.”

“Sounds like you’ve been busy. Lindsay, why don’t you and Flack go and look up the boyfriend.” Ashley freezes; she knows exactly where this is going. “Ashley, you can ride back to the lab with me, and we can start processing what you’ve collected. Sound good?”

Stella makes a point of making eye contact with Ashley, who still really doesn’t look impressed, but smiles anyway, “That’s fine by me.”

With that Lindsay gives Ashley a wry smile, and heads to her car with Flack. Stella moves towards her car without saying another word. Ashley just sighs and follows, she figures it took her and Lindsay around 20 minutes to get here from the lab; this is going to be an awkward ride. Ashley climbs into the passenger seat, and pulls on her seat belt. She becomes fixated on the New York scenery, and just stares out of the window.

Stella can see Ashley is in no mood for talking, and she completely gets why. She starts the car up, and heads back to the lab. She keeps looking over at Ashley, which doesn’t go unnoticed, trying to figure out in her head how she’s going to break the ice. Stella’s earlier mood has completely evaporated, and been replaced by a feeling of complete embarrassment. She decides the best course of action is to just come straight out and apologise.

“I . . . Erm wanted to apologise for how I acted earlier.” Stella looks away, Ashley smirks, at least she has the decency to actually be sheepish about it.

“Don’t worry about it, it's fine.” Ashley returns her gaze back out of the window, now she’s being the bitch. She know’s Stella is offering an Olive branch and she should just accept it, but she wants to make her sweat a little longer.

Stella know’s Ashley ‘s making her work for this, and she deserves it. She decides to power through. “No it's not. I was in an awful mood; I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.” She glances over at Ashley again, still no response, this spurs Stella on.

“I’m really excited about having you join the team. It’s not often I get to work with someone voted the best young CSI in the country.” She wiggles her eye brows as she speaks, clearly teasing.

This gets Ashley’s attention. Now it’s her turn to be embarrassed. She cannot believe Stella saw that article. She looks over at Stella who is currently grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Maybe she’s not so bad after all. At this point she decides she probably should give her another chance.

“I can’t believe you saw that. It’s so embarrassing.” She cringes slightly as she remembers the article.

“Hardly embarrassing, just means you’re one of the best at what you do. You should be proud.” Stella is now genuinely excited by Ashley joining the team, her mood has done a complete 360. Ashley is also quite enjoying herself.

“Hey I take immense pride in my work. But don’t for a second think I believe half of that crap they printed about me. God I can feel my cheeks burning up just thinking about it.” They both laugh, Stella thinks Ashley is adorable, and she was right, she is really easy to get along with. 

Ashley is glad that they seem to be back on track, and can’t help but think how beautiful Stella is when she’s not being a bitch. Whoa wait a second, beautiful? Where did that come from? Bad idea Ashley she is broken from her thoughts by Stella’s voice.

“So how about we start over?” the car stops at lights, Stella smiles and offers Ashley her hand. “Hi I’m Detective Stella Bonasera. Pleased to meet you.”

Ashley accepts her hand. There’s a definite spark of electricity between them, they both notice it, Ashley pushes it to the back of her mind and just repeats over and over in her head ‘she’s straight, bad idea’. Stella is just confused by it, luckily Ashley begins to speak before she can over analyse it.

“Nice to finally meet you Detective Stella Bonasera. I’m Detective Eden Ashley. My friends call me Ashley.”

Again the two exchange smiles and relax back into the journey, which is completed in a comfortable silence. All Ashley can think about is how her first problem with her boss, could be turning into a completely different one. She decides she needs to keep things strictly professional, the last thing she needs is a crush on her boss. But damn she’s attractive.

Stella is just happy everything between them is sorted. She can’t get the feeling from when they touched out of her head, she can’t quite put her finger on what it actually was, but she knew it definitely wasn’t hatred which is a plus at this point; she just pushes it to the back of her mind.

XXXXXXXXX

The rest of Ashley’s first day went pretty well. It’s currently 6.30pm. Lindsay, Stella and Ashley solved their case. It turned out to be pretty simple in the end, jealous ex boyfriend had kidnapped the girl who worked in the newsagents; it wasn’t nearly as interesting as they were hoping. Ashley is currently in the main lab finishing off paper work. She has arranged to meet Flack for a drink, to watch the Knicks game after shift.

She’s just packing up her stuff when Adam walks into the lab; she was introduced to him earlier by Stella, who has been amazing with her all day. This morning is well and truly forgotten.

“Hey Ashley, so how was the first day?”

“Fine, after a bad start. Things picked up quickly, and now I’m heading out for drinks, which is of course my favourite way to end the day.” She smiles at Adam as she continues to throw stuff into her bag.

“Wow my kinda girl.”

“Well I’m just heading to a bar round the corner, watching the Knicks game with Flack; you’re more than welcome to join us.”

“Wow drinking and a sports fan, you really are the perfect woman. But I wouldn’t want to intrude on your date with Flack.” Adam is teasing her now. The grin on his face confirms as much.

“It's not a date. I certainly don’t want Flack to think it’s a date, maybe it's best if you do come along.” Now she’s worried, he doesn’t actually think it’s a date does he?

“Don’t worry, I kinda get the impression that Flack isn’t your type? And I think he gets that too.” Wow, busted Ashley thinks to herself.

“That obvious huh?” She decides there’s no point denying it.

“Not really in general, but to the trained eye.” Interesting she thinks, ‘trained eye’. Adam continues, “Well that and the way you’ve been drooling over Stella all day.” Okay that’s got her attention, Adam notices the look of panic that spreads on her face, and bursts out laughing.

“I have not.” She protests, Adam just keeps on laughing, which in turn makes Ashley laugh. She decides she needs to get serious though, she doesn’t want the whole lab knowing her business. “Listen Adam. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone. I’m kinda private about this; I’d like to tell people in my own time.”

“My lips are sealed. And don’t worry I totally get the attraction to Stella.” He wiggles his eyebrows, the way he says it has Ashley intrigued. Him and Stella? Surely not?

“You and Stella, really?” Adam just smiles.

“Maybe I’ll divulge more over drinks.” With that he walks out of the lab, Ashley follows him. Her final thought is, I think I’m going to like it here after all.

XXXXXXXXX


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: CSI New York and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. No infringement is intended. Eden Ashley is an original character. All mine.

Detective Ashley has been working at the New York crime lab, for just over a month now. Everything is going great, work is going great. Slowly but surely she’s getting her apartment sorted too. Mainly thanks to Adam and Flack helping her unpack in exchange for Pizza and Beer. Ashley has slotted in so well and has been made feel so welcome, especially by those two. She knows it's probably down to the fact that she can be herself completely with them. 

In other news she finally seems to have her little crush on Stella under complete control, thank goodness.

She’s just arrived at work and is currently heading towards the main lab, its 8.45am Wednesday morning. It’s been an uneventful week so far. Little does she know how much that is all about to change.

Stella’s in the main lab with Mac, Danny and Flack; she can’t believe what’s happening. She also hates the fact that they’re discussing Eden behind her back. “I think we should just wait until she gets here, before we all overreact. She probably has a perfectly good explanation.” 

Stella is practically pleading now. Just as she finishes getting her words out, Ashley strolls into the lab. Stella immediately stops talking and looks down at the floor. This action is mirrored almost instantly by Flack and Danny.

Ashley can feel the tension in the room. The conversation quite clearly came to an abrupt end as soon as she stepped into the room, which is pretty conclusive evidence that she was the topic of said conversation. Also confirmed by the shady looks on everyone’s faces. She wracks her brain to try and figure out exactly what it is she’s done wrong. When she comes up with a blank, she decides she better ask.

“Err is everything okay?” Obviously not, Stella still can’t bring herself to look up from the floor. Mac eventually breaks the silence.

“Eden, where were you last night?” Ashley doesn’t say anything due to pure confusion, why on earth does Mac care where she was last night? 

Mac continues to speak. “Between the hours of midnight and three am?”

Stella cringes at how Mac has phrased the question. She tightens her crossed arms, she still can’t bear to look at Eden. Mac has done nothing to quell Ashley’s confusion, in fact if anything she’s now also a little worried. “Is there any particular reason you’re asking me like I’m a suspect?”

Initially nobody says anything, she looks over at Stella internally pleading with her to look up and give her one of her famous reassuring looks. Stella can feel Eden’s stare on her, but she can’t bring herself to make eye contact. The panic begins to rise in Ashley. “What the hell is going on here guys? Am I a suspect for something?”

Stella can’t take it anymore. Over the last few weeks, she's become incredibly protective of Eden. Her head whips up at the clear panic in Eden’s voice. She needs to reassure her, and give her some form of explanation. “No of course not.” 

She inwardly wrestles to find the right words to continue. Ashley can see Stella is in turmoil, which increases her own internal panic a few notches. Luckily for Stella, and Eden, Mac steps in to save her and hopefully provide at least some clarity regarding what’s actually going on here. Hopefully Ashley is finally going to get the explanation she craves.

“Do you know a Jenifer Sturridge?” Whilst Mac’s expression suggests that Ashley should know this person, she honestly doesn't. She spends a few minutes really searching her memory to try and think of anyone she knows with that name. She draws a complete blank. Stella watches Ashley’s expression closely willing her to come up with a reasonable explanation for all this.

“I don’t think so; the name doesn’t ring a bell.” Ashley can tell this is obviously not the answer any of them were after. “Why? Should it?”

Mac continues. “She was murdered at home last night, sometime after 2am. She was found in bed this morning by her house keeper. She had been stabbed.” Ashley listens but she still has no idea where she fits into this, she gestures for Mac to continue. “We found two DNA profiles on the bed sheets. One belonged to her, the other belonged to . . . you.”

It all suddenly slides alarmingly into place. Ashley’s mind is racing, Jennifer, of course, she knew her as Jen; she hadn’t bothered to ask for her surname. Why would she? Mac can see her processing the information, but he needs answers, and fast.

“Your fingerprints were all over her apartment. Can you explain this?”

“Yeah, I was at her place last night. She lives uptown right, 31st and Lexington?” Stella can see Ashley’s panic spilling out. She can understand why, she’s a little confused herself, not 60 seconds ago the younger woman had claimed not to know the victim. Now she’s confirmed that she was probably the last person to see her alive. 

Ashley is frantically trying to get things straight in her head. This is like a nightmare. One she hope she wakes up from soon.

“Yeah. That’s right. Ashley I thought you said you didn’t know her?” Ashley looks up at Mac; he’s staying incredibly calm, although he does look massively confused. Ashley takes a deep breath, resigned to the fact that ultimately nothing good can come out of this.

“I don’t.” Now Stella is extremely confused, and it looks as though she isn’t the only one. Danny looks just as bewildered. Flack who has finally lifted his gaze from the floor; looks slightly less confused. Understandable given the extra information he has about her private life. Flack gives Ashley a reassuring smile. She knows she’s going to have to explain exactly what went on last night that led to her being at what turned into a murder scene. She really doesn’t want to have to do this in front of Stella. After a quick glance at Stella she drags her eyes back to Mac.

“I think you better explain yourself Ashley.”Everybody’s stare is fixated on her now. The oxygen in the room seems to have gotten a lot thinner. She can’t bear to look at anyone whilst she explains, especially not Stella. So now it’s her turn to become mesmerised by the floor tiles.

She takes a deep breath. “I don’t know her, not really. I only met her last night. I was in a bar, we got talking, and I guess we hit it off. We ended up going back to her place for a drink.”

Ashley chances a look up at Stella, she still looks confused. Truth is Stella doesn’t just look it, she is confused. Now for a completely different reason, why would she go back to someone’s apartment that she just met? As she poses the question to herself in her own head, the penny drops. There’s only one reason you go back to the place of someone you just met, isn’t there? 

Ashley meanwhile looks over to Flack for reassurance, which he provides in the form of another smile. Mac looks the most confused he’s been all day, he really needs her to start explaining this story a little better.

“Let me get this straight, you meet a girl in a bar, and you end up going back to her place for a drink? And you’ve only known her for five minutes?” When Mac puts it like that it just confirms Stella’s previous thought. She actually feels quite hurt that she didn’t know this about Eden, it’s obvious to her now that Flack knows. She feels really disappointed, and she has this horrible nervous feeling in her stomach, that she can’t really explain. Unexpected. Eden is clearly gay, it seems the only person in the room struggling to come to that conclusion is Mac. 

Ashley resorts to pleading. “Come on Mac; don’t make me spell it out.” She makes eye contact with her still completely bemused boss. It appears she is in fact going to have to spell it out for him. She exhales loudly. “It was a one night stand Mac.” Finally the penny drops. The expression on Mac’s face is akin to when a light bulb goes off above a carton characters head. If the situation wasn’t so dire, Ashley might laugh, instead she continues.

“That’s why I didn’t recognise her name, I only knew her as Jen.” Ashley looks up at everyone in the room. Danny and Stella have reverted to looking at the floor. She swears Stella looks a little hurt, of all the people to potentially have an issue with her sexuality, she hoped Stella wouldn’t be one of them.

Stella is surprised to find that she is a little hurt, she’s not sure if it’s because Eden felt she couldn’t share this part of her life with her, or if it was a slight pang of jealousy at the thought of the younger woman spending the night with someone else? It feels a lot like the latter. Surely not? Stella shakes it off; there are far more important things for her to be concentrating on right now. 

Ashley continues. “It's not something I’m proud of.” It really isn’t. Ashley isn’t averse to one night stands; it is something she’s done in the past, but never with a complete stranger. But what is she supposed to do; she’s only been in New York for five weeks, she’s hardly had time to make any real connections in the LGBT community.

Ashley suddenly realises she’s been concentrating on completely the wrong thing. She was so worried about coming out to the team, it momentarily slipped her mind that this girl is now dead and she’s obviously a suspect.

“Mac she was alive when I left. I swear.”

“I believe you. What time did you leave?” Ashley is comforted by Mac’s quick backing. But she realises she’s still in trouble. She can feel her eyes filling up with tears, but she is determined not to let them spill over. She cannot believe this is happening. 

“Around 12.30.”

Mac nods. “Right go with Flack, he needs to ask you some questions.”

“He’s going to interview me? Like a suspect?”

Flack obviously hears the panic in her voice. “Hey Ashley relax, I'm going to take a statement, you're the last person to see this girl alive. No one thinks you’re involved in this.”

Stella has been relatively quiet up to this point, silently mulling over her own reaction to Eden’s coming out. She moves towards her almost involuntarily, she has this overwhelming urge to comfort her. She places her hand on Eden’s shoulder. Ashley can’t bring herself to make eye contact, certain if she does the flood gates will open.

Stella is genuinely worried about her, obviously Eden was extremely reluctant to share this part of her life with the team. But she has no idea why. The only thing she is sure of is that there must be more to it. Although she’s still struggling to come to terms with her own reaction to Eden’s news, and the strange feeling it's caused within her, she knows that she needs to reassure her, let her know that they all have her back, and that the fact she’s gay doesn’t change a thing.

“No one suspects you of anything. The evidence will find whoever did this okay. Danny lets go.” With this Stella and Danny leave the lab, Stella with an immense feeling of determination to clear Eden’s name. Mac goes to follow but stops at Eden before he leaves.

“Stella’s right okay. No one thinks you’ve done anything wrong. But I can’t have you anywhere near this. Give your statement to Flack, and then I want you on desk duty until this is resolved. Okay.” She just nods. Mac leaves the room. 

Ashley turns to Flack; she can no longer hold in the tears, they begin to run freely down her cheeks. Flack envelopes her into a bear hug. “Come here everything is going to be okay.” He kisses her head, making her feel safe. “Let's go grab a coffee and then head downstairs okay?”

Ashley just nods despondently and follows Flack out of the room.

XXXXXXXXX

Around 30 minutes have passed since Ashley came out to the whole team, and found herself at the centre of a murder investigation. She’s now sitting in the Interview room, across the table from Flack. They’re going over what happened last night.

“I got out of work around 8.30 last night. I felt like a drink, so I headed for a bar I go to sometimes when I'm on my own. It’s called Coyotes. Its downtown. I was having a drink, just one, and chatting to the barmaid, her name’s Caitlin. She’s cool. I've spoken to her a few times before. Anyway, this blonde comes up to me and says I look bored, she offered me a game of pool. I took her up on the offer. We got chatting, and as I said one thing led to another and she invited me back to hers.”

“What time did you leave the bar?”

“Around ten, we got to her place around 10.30. We walked, it wasn’t too far. We said hi to the concierge on the way in.”

“That's good. You don’t have to go into details about what happened inside the apartment. Unless you want to of course.” Flack chuckles, and for the first time since she arrived at work this morning Ashley smiles back. She appreciates him trying to lighten the mood. He continues. “What time did you leave the apartment?”

“Like I said to Mac it was around 12.30am, I got back to may place around 1am. I took a cab, I said hi to my concierge on the way in. And I'm pretty sure both buildings have CCTV at least in the lobby. Mine definitely does.” 

“That's great. And how was Jennifer when you left her apartment?”

“She was fine. She thanked for a great time, and said we should do it again sometime.” She inhales loudly, still in shock that this is actually happening.

“Cool, well I'm gonna go and verify the info you’ve given me. Ashley don’t worry, we will find who did this. Why don’t you go and wait upstairs.” With that Flack rises from the table, and holds the door open for his friend.

“Thanks Flack.”

Ashley trudges upstairs. Back through the corridors of the lab, she feels like everyone is looking at her. She continues arms folded. She stops when she feels a hand on her shoulder, she looks up to see Stella looking at her, face full of compassion.

Stella is just about to head out to meet Flack, so they can verify Eden’s story. “How are you holding up?” Stella already knows the answer, Ashley looks like hell. But strangely she also looks kind of embarrassed, which Stella still doesn’t really understand.

“I’m not really, my heads all over the place. I can’t believe this has happened. I feel like everyone’s looking at me now.”

“Well it’s not because they think you're a murderer.”

“Thank god. But there’s another reason they could be judging me now too.” Stella picks up on the meaning. She can’t believe that Eden would be embarrassed or worried about her sexuality. Ashley is very aware that Stella’s hand is still on her shoulder. She can’t help herself but look down at the hand. Stella sees her look, and without thinking lets her hand drop down back by her side, she immediately regrets the speed at which she does it.

Ashley swallows hard, and tries not to overthink the sudden coldness that has just come over her. She places her own hand onto the spot Stella’s has just vacated in an effort to bridge the warmth. She can’t seem to take her eyes from the floor, feeling almost rejected by Stella’s actions. 

The older CSI can feel the weird tension that’s just descended between them. She really doesn’t care that Ashley is gay, she isn’t remotely homophobic. She hopes Ashley doesn't think she is. Stella feels almost uncomfortable at the thought. She decides to put the feeling to one side for now; she needs to put Eden’s mind at rest.

“Hey no one’s looking at you because of that either. Unless they suddenly think they’re in with a chance.” Stella doesn’t quite know where that came from, but is glad when a slight laugh escapes Eden’s lips. Ashley still has no desire to look at or respond to Stella.

Again Stella finds it difficult to explain her next actions even to herself. But she can’t help herself. She places her hand under Ashley’s chin and gently pushes her head up, forcing her to make eye contact with her, when she does she is memorised by the sparkling sea of blue that meets her own eyes. The depth of feeling in Ashley’s eyes almost takes Stella’s breath away. She composes herself. “Nobody cares if you're gay. And I have no idea why you think it’s such a big deal. But it isn’t. Okay?”

Ashley just nods she can feel the unshed tears beginning to sting her eyeballs again. The last thing she wants to do is cry in front of Stella. Stella senses that the young CSI is uncomfortable, so she releases her face. “Why don’t you camp out in my office for the rest of the day? That way you’ll be away from prying eyes, and I can keep you updated.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, means I’ll be able to keep my eye on you too.” Stella smiles.

“Thanks.” Ashley is genuinely grateful. Stella just nods, and then makes her way to the exit, Ashley watches her go, then heads into her bosses office. She sighs heavily as she collapses into Stella’s chair and turns the computer on. What an awful morning so far. She decides to keep her mind busy and get on with some paperwork.

XXXXXXXXX

Ashley has been in Stella’s office for a couple of hours now. She’s going out of her mind. She’s completed all of her outstanding paperwork, and rearranged Stella’s desk. She’s currently resisting the urge to rearrange the entire office through pure boredom. She’s pretty sure Stella wouldn’t be too happy about that. She’s relieved when she see’s Adam walking towards the glass door, and is amused as he checks left and then checks right, before opening the door and quickly stepping through it. He’s holding two coffees, and wearing a huge grin.

“Please tell me one of those is for me.” Ashley gestures towards the coffee.

“Absolutely, Hazelnut Latte, your favourite. I thought you could probably use it today.” He smiles as he hands it over.

“I knew I loved you for a reason.” She smiles as she gratefully accepts the coffee and takes a sip. Divine.

“Anything for you Princess.” Ashley nearly chokes on the coffee, which causes Adam to start howling with laughter.

“How many times do I have to tell you?! Stop calling me Princess.” He tries to apologise but can’t quite get it out through all of his laughing.

Ashley rolls her eyes, but changes the subject. “So how’s it going out there in the real world? I’m starting to get cabin fever in this office.”

“It's all good. I’m doing the labs on your case.”

“Adam please don’t refer to it as my case.”

“Oh sorry yeah, but you know what I mean.” She just nods.”Between you and me, I’ve heard you could be in the clear. I’m sure Stella will come update you officially when she can.”

Ashley actually feels the weight lifting from her shoulders. She has a million and one questions, but she knows she would be putting Adam in a really awkward position if she were to ask them, so she holds back for now.

Adam can see she’s dying to know more, and he wants to put her out of her misery. He crouches down over the desk, and whispers, “On the down low, your story checked out perfect, got you on CCTV getting home at the time you said and everything.” 

Ashley smiles at Adam’s attempt at discretion, she can tell there is an impending change of subject when he straightens up and starts to talk full volume again, “On another note. I think I may have lost my crown as stud of the lab.”

Ashley giggles, she feels a lot more relaxed with the information Adam has just passed on regarding the case. So she’s willing to entertain his attempt at banter in the hope that it will take her mind off things. “Is that a title you’ve ever actually held?” The look of fake hurt on Adam’s face is hilarious, they both laugh out loud. The first time today Ashley has felt like laughing. “What makes you say that anyway?”

“Couple of the lab hotties, seem interested, now they know you bat for the other team.” Ashley laughs again at his turn of phrase. “What are you laughing at? I’m being serious.”

“Adam please, not one person in this lab is remotely gay, besides even if they were, the first person I have sex with in New York, ends up brutally murdered. Yeah I'm sure they're queuing up.”

Now it’s Adam’s turn to laugh. “First of all no one here thought you were gay, appearances can be deceiving, there are a few interested parties trust me. Secondly, no one in this lab is stupid enough to think that you sleeping with that girl is why she died!”

“You make a good point.” Adam smiles as he rises from his chair.

“I have to go Princess, I'll check back in later.” Ashley tut’s and shakes her head as Adam leaves the office. She smiles to herself. Looks like this day is slowly but surely getting better.

XXXXXXXXXX

It’s been a really difficult day for Stella, she has thrown all of her efforts into clearing Eden’s name, and ultimately she has been successful. A small smile escapes her lips as she has the thought. She’s on route to her office to give Eden the fabulous news. She’s still rather unsettled by the emotional affect today has had on her. Her heart actually ached when she first heard that Eden was a suspect, and now that she’s in the clear, she feels as though her heart could burst through her chest with excitement.

This is the first time she has really allowed herself to really think about these ‘feelings’, she merely brushed them off earlier, but could it be possible that she was having feelings, romantic feelings, for another woman? No that definitely wasn’t it. She has never been attracted to another woman before. Ever. Eden is different though, is it possible she’s attracted to her? To Eden the person, Eden the woman? That is definitely more plausible, and actually quite terrifying.

Stella swallows her fear as she reaches her office, she peaks in, the light is on but there is no sign of Eden. She quietly enters, and spies Eden asleep on the couch. The vision before her takes Stella’s breath away. She looks beautiful. That terrifying feeling from moments earlier reaches the pit of her stomach. Her heart seems to take control of her actions, and she gently sits down on the couch next to the cause of all her anxiety, and reaches out with her hand. . .

Ashley’s brain seems to wake up a few seconds ahead of the rest of her body. For that initial moment she’s in darkness. She can however feel something on her face, something stroking her face. Her brain is able to assess in the dark that she has obviously fallen asleep. Ashley suddenly realises that someone is however touching her face. Ashley springs upright, and opens her eyes. She registers that she’s on the couch in Stella’s office. She’s now bolt upright, it takes her a few seconds to get her bearings, when she does she realises Stella is sitting on the couch with her, her hand still on her face.

“God Stella, you scared the life out of me.” Stella smirks, as she removes her hand from Eden’s face. All Ashley can think is ‘wow she is beautiful when she smiles, and by the way, why is she stroking my face?’ Seem’s she’s not completely over her little crush.

Stella seems to read Ashley’s mind and becomes very aware that she has just been caught caressing her face, she decides a swift change of subject, is best. “Sorry. What are you still doing here? It’s almost 9.”

“9pm, you’re joking, what are you still doing here?” Stella still has a beaming smile on her face, and that burst of pride returns to her heart.

“Well I’ve just wrapped up my case.” Now it’s Ashley’s turn to smile.

“So unless you’re here to arrest me, can I take it, its good news?” Stella nods, and Ashley sits up properly on the couch allowing Stella to sit next to her.

“It's great news, was there ever any doubt? It was her girlfriend, apparently they were on a break, she saw you leaving the apartment, and wasn’t too happy. We got a full confession.”

“Well I know this is going to sound really cold, not to mention really selfish, considering someone has died. But I'm so relieved.”

Stella can understand this as she has the same feeling of elation. She still can’t get something out of her mind, she and Eden have become close over the last few weeks, she can’t understand why she didn’t tell her she was gay, and it’s not like Eden to hide who she is.

The two of them have been sitting in silence for a few minutes; Ashley looks over at Stella, and can see she is fighting with herself, she obviously wants to say something, but doesn’t know if she should. Ashley tries to prompt her a little.

“Hey what is it?” Stella looks over at Ashley with her piercing blue eyes; they are full of confusion at the moment.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were gay?” Stella needs to understand. Before, the feelings she was having were just weird, now she knows about Ashley’s sexuality, they are full of possibility, excitement, and terror.

But more than that she feels a bit betrayed. She knows it’s irrational, but she can’t believe Ashley didn’t tell her. They’ve grown so close over the last few weeks. Stella starts to fret. Maybe they aren’t as close as she thought. Then the dreaded realisation that the feelings she may or may not have, might not be returned by Eden. How arrogant is she? Just because Eden’s gay doesn’t mean she feels the same way, and even if she did, what did she think was going to happen, she couldn’t have a relationship with another woman. Stella starts to panic. She needs to regain her composure.

Ashley feels awful at Stella’s latest statement, she and Stella have grown pretty close over the last few weeks. She could have told her, but there is something holding her back, something she isn’t willing to share yet, and something she hasn’t even shared with Adam or Flack.

Stella decides to put all the thoughts flooding her mind to one side and deal with the issue in hand.

“You told Adam and Flack, why not me?” Ashley can hear the hurt in Stella’s voice now, as well as see it in her face.

“I didn’t tell Adam and Flack, they guessed. If they hadn’t I probably wouldn’t have told them either.” Ashley know’s it’s pathetic as soon as the words are out of her mouth.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Stella is desperate for an explanation, even if Eden had just said it was because she’s private about her private life, that would have been acceptable. Stella knows it goes deeper than that.

“I’m sorry Stella. But I do have my reasons. Maybe one day I’ll tell you what they are.”

With that Ashley stands up and leaves the office. She knows she’s hurt Stella, she’s not entirely sure why she’s so hurt, so confused. Maybe she thinks she doesn’t value their friendship as much as she does, she’s wrong. Ashley muses that she ordinarily wouldn’t have told anyone by now, five weeks isn’t enough time to suss people out, gauge what their reaction might be.

Something is nagging at Ashley that maybe there is more to this than just friendship, but she can’t put her finger on quite what it could be. All she can think about now, is the way Stella was stroking her face when she was sleeping. Dangerous territory Ashley, very dangerous. 

XXXXXXXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading as always.
> 
> Please do let me know what you think.
> 
> Twitter: Eden_Ashley_Chr


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: CSI New York and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. No infringement is intended. Eden Ashley is an original character. All mine.

It’s been a few weeks since Ashley was a suspect in a murder case. Thankfully things have calmed down a lot since then. Well, she hasn’t been accused of anymore crimes anyway. Ashley and Adam are currently playing a little game of one on one, on a basketball court just around the corner from work. Adam isn’t taking getting beaten by a girl too well. He’s trying his best to put her off, so he stands a chance of actually winning.

He decides mind games are his next trick. He’s got the ball with Ashley facing him, with her back to the hoop; defence stance ready to pounce on what she feels is an inevitable mistake from Adam. “So how are things with you and Stella?” Adam has a glint in his eye as he broaches the subject. Ashley laughs inwardly, she thinks, does he really think this is going to put her off?

“What ‘things’ are you referring to?” he tries to dribble past her, but she marks him tightly, and they return to starting positions.

“Come on Princess, don’t be like that.” Mission accomplished. This winds Ashley up, she hates Adam’s little pet name. She lunges at the ball, Adam dips past her and throws it in the hoop. Damn.

Delight for Adam. “Seriously though, how’s your little conversion project coming on?” Ashley retrieves the balls, roles have now reversed and she’s trying to score.

“You are joking? I know you think I’ve got a little crush on her, and I'm willing to admit she is hot. But I'm not insane enough to think she’d be remotely interested in me.”

“Yeah right, I’ve seen the two of you together. You go into this weird ‘Stella, Eden world’, it’s like there's no one else in the room.”

“Dude seriously, there's nothing going on. Stella’s y’know straight. This really isn’t going to put me off my game.”

“I’m not trying to put you off, I'm serious, I think you’d have a shot.”

An evil idea starts to form in Ashley’s head, she can’t help but smirk. . “You know, when I think about it, Stella hasn’t had a boyfriend for a while.” Adam smiles, he thinks he’s got her. She dribble’s the ball a little.

“Come to think of it, the last guy she was with was probably you.” This makes Adam take note, his posture changes and he stands upright.

“So? What are you saying?” Ashley has him right where she wants him.

“Well you know maybe I should be thanking you. Her experience with you was obviously so bad, its led to her being open minded about being with a woman.” Adam’s eyes glaze over a little. He stops dead. Ashley takes full advantage of the situation, and dribbles straight past him to score the winning points.

“She shoots, she scores.” She does a celebratory dance, and then runs over to where their bags are grabbing hers. “Come on Adam, we’ve gotta get to work.”

XXXXXXXXX

The elevator pings open and Adam and Ashley are back at the lab. They head straight for the changing rooms. The five minute walk over has been a painful one for Ashley.

“You don’t really think that’s true do you?” Ashley is beginning to wish she hadn’t said anything. This is all she’s heard all the way back from the court.

“Of course I don’t, look I was just teasing you to win at basketball, I’m sure you’re very good in bed.”

With that Ashley jumps into the women’s changing room before Adam gets a chance to bombard her with anymore of his moaning.

The locker room is empty, which Ashley is pleased about. She takes a quick peek into the showers to make sure no one is in there either. They’re empty too. Good. She takes off her t-shirt, and throws it onto the floor. It’s at this point the locker room door swings open and someone else walks in. Ashley freezes.

“Oh, hey Eden.” Stella enters the room. Ashley doesn’t speak, she concludes quickly that Stella hasn’t looked at her properly yet. She doesn’t speak, doesn’t move. She realises that she’s actually holding her breath. She just stands in her bra and shorts, not speaking, waiting for the reaction she knows is coming.

Stella is busy looking at a file when she enters the room, when Eden doesn’t respond to her greeting, she pulls her gaze from the file over to where Eden is standing. The younger woman is just standing, frozen into place, with her back to her. This causes Stella to fully concentrate on Eden. 

She can’t help her sharp intake of breath as she sees what is obviously the reason why Eden hasn’t moved. There’s a huge scar on Eden’s back. Approximately 7 inches long, it goes from right to left on the lower part of her back. Before Stella can even comprehend what she’s doing she’s moved towards Eden and her hands are on her back tracing the line of her scar. 

Ashley releases the breath she’s been holding and turns around to face Stella. She has to try and stifle the tears in her eyes. Stella’s eyes are stunningly blue, and full of concern. Stella moves her gaze down to Eden’s stomach, where she sees the second of her scars. This one is about 9 inches and straight down.

Stella moves her hand down and traces the outline of the scar on her stomach, mirroring what she did with the one on her back. Ashley just stands there entirely still. Not quite sure of what to do. She realises her eyes are closed. When she opens them she see’s that Stella’s eyes are filled with tears as well.

Stella can’t believe what she’s seeing, who could have done this to her? She must have barely survived, the scars are huge. 

Ashley can’t take it anymore. The atmosphere in the room is suffocating. She reaches down and removes Stella’s hand from her stomach. 

Stella doesn’t take the hint, she needs to know what happened.“Eden, what happened to you?”

Ashley blinks and a tear rolls down her cheek. She reaches up and wipes it away. “You remember I told you I had my reasons for not telling people I’m gay?” 

She can’t bring herself to look at Stella, so she just looks down at her scar. Stella understands immediately. Somebody did this to her because she’s gay? No wonder she didn’t want to tell anyone. Stella can’t help the tears that start to fall from her eyes, nor can she hold back the gasp that emits from her mouth. Ashley sees Stella begin to weep, and it destroys her. She can no longer hold back her own emotion. Tears begin to fall more and more freely from her eyes now, she can’t seem to stop them from flowing. 

Stella really needs Eden to confirm that what she thinks is true, so disbelieving that anyone would try to kill someone as wonderful as this for such a ridiculous reason. “Somebody did this to you because of your sexuality?”

It’s a question that Ashley can’t answer, she can’t physically speak, the emotion clogging her throat. She needs to get away. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” With that she runs into the showers, and quickly turns the water on.

Stella just stands on the spot, dumbfounded. She can’t believe it. Can’t believe that anyone would ever want to hurt her. But she decides she isn’t going to push Eden. She’ll let her talk to her in her own time. With that thought she composes herself and leaves the changing room.

Ashley hears the changing room door slam shut from the shower. She puts her head under the hot water as the sobs begin the wreck her body. She knew it would come out eventually, but not like this. She wasn’t ready for that, for Stella to see her like that. 

She sighs at the thought, her feelings for Stella are beginning to grow beyond a crush. The way Stella is with her, the way she touches her, like it’s the most natural thing in the world, giving her hope that maybe something could happen between them. False hope surely? The rational part of her brain is screaming that it’s not possible. Ashley decides that she needs to distance herself from Stella, but she needs to explain her scars properly first.

XXXXXXXXX

Ashley has managed to avoid Stella all day, she still feels kind of embarrassed about earlier. But she’s made a deal with herself. If Stella is in her office when Ashley finishes her shift, then she will talk it out with her. 

That’s probably why she’s finished off all of her outstanding paperwork today, and it’s now fairly late. As she approaches Stella’s office she realises she needn’t have bothered. Her light is on. Ashley approaches the door, she sees Stella engrossed in some papers, she can’t help but smile at the sight of her, glasses on, in full concentration. She has got it so bad. She knocks on the door and sticks her head round.

Stella looks up at to see Eden at her door, she smiles. She knows Eden has been avoiding her all day, so she’s glad she is the one to approach her, but she doesn’t want to push her. “Hey Eden, you okay?”

“Yeah. How long do you think you’re going to be?” Ashley gestures towards her paperwork, secretly hoping it’s too important for her to leave.

“I can finish right now, this isn’t essential, just some extra reading. Why what’s up?” Ashley is actually nervous, she feels a little sick.

“I was wondering if you maybe wanted to grab a drink, I thought we could talk y’know about earlier?” Ashley looks at her feet, struggling to make eye contact with her, and praying that Stella doesn’t think she’s asking her out on a date.

Stella on the other hand is delighted that Eden wants to talk and wastes no time in accepting her offer. “Sure, gimme a second to grab my coat and I’ll be right out.”

Ashley is relieved Stella clearly hasn’t taken her invitation in the wrong way. She walks over to the elevator, and waits. It doesn’t take Stella too long to join her.

“So where you taking me?” Stella says it with an almost flirtatious smile. She is really excited, and hopeful that she and Eden can sort this out and move on. Ashley on the other hand, is having a slight panic for a different reason. She hasn’t thought this through properly, she has no idea where they can go.

“Hey I’m the new girl. I don’t know, where’s good around here? You choose. I will of course pay.” They step onto the elevator and press the button for the ground floor whilst they're talking.

“Okay, well we can go to Maguire’s. It’s only a few minutes away.” They step off the elevator and out of the building. It’s a chilly night, Ashley pulls her coat closer around herself. Stella was right; the bar is only a few doors down. They haven’t spoken since the elevator, but it’s been a comfortable silence. As they stride into the bar Ashley begins to feel a lot more nervous about the impending conversation.

They make their way over to the server. “What do you want? To drink I mean?” Stella can tell Eden is nervous. She smiles to reassure her.

“Relax. We don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to. I’ll have a glass of white wine, and I’ll go and grab us a table over there.” She points over to one of the booths, and then starts to head towards it, whilst removing her coat. Ashley looks over to the barmaid, who is smirking back at her.

“You heard the lady, large glass of white, and I’ll have a large house red. Cheers.” She smiles as she orders. Once Ashley has the drinks, she heads over to Stella, who is all smiles as she approaches. Ashley passes her the glass of wine and, then sits in the booth next to her.

Now they’re here, Ashley doesn’t know how on earth to begin to start this conversation. She decides to try and ease into it with some general chit chat. “How was your day?”

“Uneventful.” Well that went well, Ashley thinks to herself as she takes a sip of her wine.

“Eden, I meant it when I said we don’t have to talk about earlier.” Stella is desperate not to scare her off again.

“No, I want to. I told you ages ago I would tell you why I didn’t come out to everyone. That’s what I'm going to do. I know I hurt you by not telling you.”

“You told me, you’d tell me when you’re ready. If that’s not now, that’s okay. I am happy you feel as though you can talk to me.” Stella is sincere, and Ashley appreciates it. Stella decides to be a little braver, now they are in a less formal environment.

“It’s weird isn’t it, this connection between us.” Ashley is quite taken aback, she knew she thought there was a connection, but she didn’t in a million years believe Stella felt it too. She was almost certain she’d created it as part of her crush. She’s brought out of her thoughts when Stella continues to speak. “I feel like I’ve known you a lot longer than two months. Things are so comfortable between us. It's hard to explain.”

Ashley cuts in, “I know exactly what you mean, I’ve never felt like this before, like you say it's . . . weird.” Ashley worries she's gone too far, expressing her feelings like that. Stella however, thinks it’s a perfect description. She’s certainly never felt this way before, and is still trying to come to terms with what exactly that means. 

Ashley decides to steer things back to the issue in hand. “I want to tell you about my scars, it’s just hard.”

“I know, take your time.” Stella grabs her hand, and squeezes it to reassure her. Ashley decides the best way to handle this is to just power through, so here goes nothing.

“Okay, so you saw my scars earlier. Obviously I know you’re a good enough CSI to realise they were stab wounds.” Ashley looks up at Stella for confirmation, the smile is no longer on her face. Her expression has turned to one of sadness. Stella just nods at Ashley. Prompting her to continue.

“Ten years ago, I was twenty years old, and just about to graduate the Harvard Academy in Boston. Me and my girlfriend at the time, Katy, we’re walking home one evening. It wasn’t late, but it was winter so it was dark. Anyway, we were stopped by some old guy in the park. He asked us for directions, he was a priest so we figured we were pretty safe.” She looks up at Stella for confirmation to continue. Stella’s mind is racing with questions, but she keeps her expression the same, and silently urges Ashley to continue.

“I'm a little sketchy on what happened next, before I knew it I was on the floor, I’d been stabbed twice. I couldn’t move. He had his hands all over Katy.” Ashley takes a deep breath, and swallows the emotion she feels. She’s cried enough tears over that night. “I remember before I fell unconscious, he made her beg for her life. It turned out he killed her anyway.”

Stella is shocked by the story, she can’t comprehend that someone could do that to Eden because of who she is. She can feel the rage surging in her, it’s not long before it turns into frustrated tears which are now falling freely from her eyes. She has an overwhelming, and quite ridiculous sense of guilt, that she didn’t protect Eden. Followed up by an overwhelming urge to protect her always from this day on. 

It’s at this point she knows the ‘feelings’ she’s been having for the younger woman have surpassed merely ‘weird’. She has actual feelings for her, a woman. No not a woman, not any woman, Eden. She knows there really isn’t a distinction, but to her there is. Is she falling for her? All of these thoughts are still swirling around her brain as Ashley continues.

“I don’t really remember anything after that. Like I said, I lost consciousness and the next thing I remember was waking up in hospital. Katy was dead. It wasn’t until the trial he finally gave his reasons for doing it. He’d been following us for a while. Said it was God’s instruction to kill us both for our sins. He was carrying out God’s work to eradicate the earth of evil homosexuals like us.” 

Ashley smiles wryly and takes another deep breath as she looks over at Stella. Her face is a mess from all the tears that have spilled. “Oh Eden, I can’t believe someone could do that to you.” It’s all Stella can manage, word’s wise at the minute. Her head is still spinning from her own earlier revelation.

“Yeah well. I’ve been kinda weird about telling people I'm gay since then. It’s nothing to do with being ashamed. I'm very proud of who I am, I just worry about people’s reactions, y’know?”

“Yeah, well that’s understandable” Stella wipes her eyes as she speaks. Ashley is glad she told Stella, she feels like a weight has been lifted. But again it’s breaking her heart to see Stella in the state she's in at the moment. She feels like she should at least attempt to repair the mood.

“Come on, I didn’t mean to upset you, I just wanted you to understand, why I didn’t tell you straight away. Let’s try and rescue the evening hey?”

Stella laughs a little, she feels like drinking now. It’s been an emotional twenty minutes or so. Stella just nods her head.

Ashley smiles, “Are you hungry? We could get something to eat?”

And just like that, they moved on from it, and spent the whole night as if the first conversation had never happened. They had a great night, and learnt a lot more about each other. Ashley smiled to herself at the end of the night, it would have been the perfect first date. It’s a dangerous game to play which will most likely end up with her heartbroken. But she cant’s help it. Little does she know Stella is playing it too in her own head. 

Ashley knows it needs to stop, but Stella sure isn’t making it easy for her, with the way she acts. It makes Ashley believe that maybe there could be a chance for them. That’s her last thought before she closes her eyes to go to sleep.

XXXXXXXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Please let me know what you think.
> 
> Twitter: Eden_Ashley_Chr


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: CSI New York and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. No infringement is intended. Eden Ashley is an original character. All mine.

Ashley is in the main lab, lab coat on looking like a geek. Well at least that’s how she sees it. She’s currently leaning over the centre table, looking at strips of material with a magnifying glass. She doesn’t have a live case at the moment, so she’s going over the evidence from an old unsolved one. She’s searching for a drop of blood, or trace or anything that might help her break the case. In her heart she knows she won’t find it, but this doesn’t deter her. She’s currently engrossed in what she’s doing.

Stella has been watching Eden from the doorway for a couple of minutes. She loves how dedicated to her work she is. Stella smiles to herself she thinks she looks cute in her lab coat, she knows how much Eden hates it. Stella knows she can’t stay here watching her for hours, so she decides she better do what she's come here to do. She moves away from the door into the room, and grabs Eden on the shoulder.

Ashley, still engrossed, absolutely jumps out of her skin. She jumps up and turns around to see Stella smirking at her.

“Jesus Stella, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Ashley is taking frantic breaths trying to regain her composure. 

“Why so jumpy Ashley?” Stella can’t help the evil grin that spreads on her face, Ashley can tell Stella’s in a playful mood by the use of her last name rather than the ‘Eden’ she usually gets from her. Stella continues, “Come on Shorty, we’ve got a case.”

“Hey just ‘cos I don’t wear those killer heals like you, doesn’t mean I'm short.” Stella laughs, and begins to fill her in on the details whilst Ashley packs her evidence away.

“42 year old female, found dead at home this morning by her husband. Upper East Side.” Ashley raises her eyebrows, she’s learning more and more about New York, and knows that the Upper East Side is definitely one of the most affluent areas.

“Very posh, is the husband a suspect?”

“Of course, they always are, but we better get down there and establish exactly what’s happened. Apparently C.O.D. isn’t obvious; it may not even be murder.”

Now Ashley’s interested, she loves a good puzzle. She grabs her jacket and they both head out of the lab. Smiling.

XXXXXXXXX

They’ve been at the crime scene for around 20 minutes. Ashley is taking photos of the body, whilst Stella is gloved up looking around the room for evidence. Flack has the husband in the other room, interrogating him. The victim is in her underwear in the middle of the room, just laid out. They weren’t kidding when they said C.O.D. wasn’t obvious, there isn’t a mark on her.

Well that’s not entirely true. There are two small marks just under her armpits. They are about 3cm long, very precise. They are almost certainly from a surgery of some description.

“Hey Stella, what do you think of our vic’s breasts?” Stella almost drops the papers she going through at Ashley’s words, and walks over to her.

“You know Ashley it’s not exactly respectful of the dead, for you to be checking out their breasts. It’s also pretty gross.” Stella puts on a mock disgusted look, Ashley just smiles and shakes her head.

“You’re sick, do you know that. I wasn’t checking them out. Look at them. Do they look real to you?” She motions towards the body. Stella follows her gaze and looks at the vic’s breasts. It’s difficult to tell, as they are of course still encased in a bra, but you can definitely make out the outline of implants.

“Well I'm by no means an expert in breasts, like you.” Stella looks over at Ashley, still with the cheeky grin on her face; she loves how playful she and Eden can be. Eden just raises her eyebrows, and looks unimpressed, waiting for an answer. “But yeah I guess they're not the most natural looking things I’ve seen.”

“And you can see the incisions just under the armpit, on either side. I’d say they're definitely fake.”

“Well that’s all well and good Ashley, but does this have any relevance to the case.” Ashley just looks over at Stella, hugely unimpressed, why on earth does she think she’d bring it up if it’s not relevant. She’s not that gay.

“Of course it’s relevant. Do you remember about 3 weeks ago, me and Danny had a case, a lot like this one, 40 something year old female, no apparent cause of death, we never solved the case because we had no idea what killed her, we still don’t. We didn’t know where to start.”

That’s got Stella’s attention, now she’s listening intently, all jokes firmly to one side.

“Well the only thing I thought was weird at the time, was that she had just had cosmetic surgery. She’d had her cheeks done.”

Stella looks confused. “Her cheeks done?”

“Yeah you know, like cheek implants. Not everyone has cheek bones to die for. Anyway there wasn’t anything suspicious about the surgery at the time so we didn’t follow up. But this is all a bit too similar.”

Stella nods. “I agree, where did the first vic have ‘her cheeks done’?” Ashley laughs at the face Stella pulls when she says it, she obviously isn’t a fan of weird cosmetic surgery, not that Ashley is either of course, but she just has a more ‘each to their own’ outlook on life.

“Erm it was at the Transforming Lives, Private Hospital. They specialise in this sort of thing.”

“Wow I never would have guessed with a name like that.” Ashley smiles. Stella just shakes her head. It’s unbelievable the lengths some woman will go to for vanity. She shouts Flack into the room, and tells him to bring the vic’s husband, Mr Jones with him. They step into the room. Mr Jones is clearly upset, he looks over and catches a glimpse of his wife’s body and starts to sob. Ashley tries to calm him down, thinking maybe they should have just gone into the other room.

“Mr Jones, I’m so sorry for your loss.” He just nods. “I notice your wife has some small incisions near her armpits. They look recent?”

“She had breast implants. Said it was for my birthday, I thought she was perfect the way she was.” Stella and Ashley look at each other. 

Stella continues to probe Mr Jones. “Mr Jones when did your wife have the surgery and where?”

“About a month ago, at that Transforming Lives Clinic, with Doctor Lovely. He’s a real piece of work.” Stella and Ashley again look at each other knowingly.

XXXXXXXXX

They jump straight into the SUV, and head right to the clinic. It’s only a five minute drive, and they’re still firmly in the most affluent part of Manhattan. On the way they heard from Adam, who had been doing some research back at the lab. There have actually been 3 mysterious deaths of 40 something woman, less than a month after having surgery at this particular clinic. 

When they arrive at the clinic it’s exactly as they both imagined; minimal, clean lines and white walls. They were greeted by a receptionist dressed in an outfit as white as the walls, and she has the personality to match, ice cold. 

Ashley and Stella are currently sitting in the waiting room, in silence. Ashley feels slightly uncomfortable, surrounded by mostly 40 to 50 year old women, some older, and bizarrely some men all around the same age. As Ashley is taking in her surroundings, she catches a glance at Stella who appears to be doing the same thing. Ashley’s heart skips a beat, as it usually does when she looks at Stella. The ice queen receptionist breaks them both out of their reverie.

“Doctor Lovely will see you now.” Ashley can’t help but smirk at the name, she looks over to Stella again who reciprocates her smirk. They rise up from their seats and follow the receptionist into the Doctor’s office.

The Doctor is much as they thought he would be as well. Smarmy, glistening white teeth, over exaggerated smile, perfect hair, not a strand out of place, slick. Full of himself. He does nothing to dispel their first impression when he opens his mouth.

“Well well well, NYPD are certainly hiring a different calibre of detective these days. How can I help you ladies?”

Ashley feels her eyes inadvertently roll, what a tool this guy is. Mr Jones was right, this guy is real piece of work. Stella begins to speak.

“Carol Jones. Lily Knowles and Sarah Johnson. Ring any bells?” Stella is standing arms crossed with a determined look on face, she isn’t about to take any crap from this idiot. Ashley looks over admiringly at her, she has the look on her face that she always gets when she’s well into a case, and she knows she’s got her man.

“I don’t think so.” He gives the two of them a cheesy smile. At this point Ashley jumps in.

“Now I find that very hard to believe. You see they’ve all been patients’ of yours, in the last three months.” He cuts her off, Ashley hates it when that happens.

“Detective . . . “he lingers, obviously waiting for her to give her name. It’s like a silent battle of wills. She dutifully gives in first.

“Ashley.” He smirks, this guy is really winding her up.

“Detective Ashley, I see approximately 60 patients a month, and perform at least 25 procedures each month, you can’t really expect me to remember the names of all my patients.”

“Well they all died, within weeks of having their procedure here. Maybe that will help you remember them.” He loses his composure for the first time since they’ve been there, only for a split second, but they both saw it. He of course fully regains it. It’s like a stone wall going up in front of his face, any scent of emotion is gone.

“And I suppose you think that has something to do with the procedures they had here?”

Stella exhales loudly, she may as well have just said ‘well duh?’ This guy is really starting to annoy her, she settles instead for. “Three women, all die within weeks of having an operation here, and what, you think it’s a coincidence?”

“That’s the only explanation I can offer, it’s certainly nothing to do with this clinic.” As he’s saying this he rises from his seat behind his desk, and makes his way over to Stella, he has a red felt tip pen in his hand.

Stella is confused, and a little intimidated by his actions, Ashley has the same confused look as Stella, and just watches intently as the scene unfolds in front of her.

“You have an amazing bone structure. You are a stunningly beautiful woman Detective.” He is firmly in front of Stella now, and she is not impressed at all. “I could help you maintain these looks, by making you look ten years younger, just a nip here and a tuck there.” Stella doesn’t know whether to explode with rage or burst into tears.

Ashley is dumbfounded. So much so that she can’t actually move, she’s just standing there open mouthed. How dare he? As far as Ashley is concerned Stella is perfect, she needs no nipping or tucking of any description. 

Although she must say the look on Stella’s face at the moment is priceless. The lovely Doctor flips the cap off the red pen. Both Stella and Ashley have the horrible realisation at this moment, that it's one of ‘those’ pens, that would be used for drawing on people having surgery. Ashley can’t believe it. He’s not actually going to try to draw on her is he? The tension in the room is intolerable at the moment. He lifts the pen to Stella’s face, she looks like she’s about to rip his face off. She can actually feel her cheeks turning red with a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

“May I?” Stella clenches her jaw, and as politely and composedly as she can she spits out. “No you may not.”

With this, Doctor not so lovely shrugs his shoulders and moves back round to his side of the desk. Ashley’s gaze is still fixed on Stella, trying to figure out if she is okay. She just looks mightily unimpressed. Ashley decides this needs to get wrapped up fairly quickly, before Stella kills their suspect.

“Right well, if you’ve got nothing to hide you won’t mind us having a look around then?” He gives her that awful smirk again.

“Detective Ashley, I’d love to help you out, but I can’t just have cops all over my clinic. I believe the correct procedure would be for you to get a warrant?”

Stella pipes in. “We’ll be back with a warrant.” And with that they both turn and leave the office. They are stopped in their tracks when Dr Lovely opens his mouth again.

“I highly doubt that, if you had one shred of evidence against me or my lab, you would have come here with a warrant.”

He is of course right. It’s going to be impossible for them to get a warrant based on the evidence they have so far. They need something concrete. As they make their way to the car, Ashley is deep in thought thinking about what it could actually be from the clinic, causing the deaths.

Stella hasn’t said a word, her train of thought is completely different to Ashley’s. She’s mortified by what’s just happened and in front of Eden as well. Sure she’s a few years older than her, but only like six, nothing momentous. She’s worried that Eden will start looking at her like an old lady now. Which is ridiculous, as she hasn’t yet, and has no plans to actually do anything about the feelings she has for her. Needless to say, the charming Doctor has really gotten under her skin. They both climb into the SUV. Ashley oblivious to Stella’s turmoil, starts to think out loud as she’s putting her seatbelt on.

“Well it can’t be any sort of superbug, that place was clean. I mean there wasn’t a speck of dirt anywhere.”

Stella really isn’t listening to Eden at this point. She’s still away in her own world. “Mmmmmm”.

Ashley can’t believe she would let that creep get to her this much. Ashley continues in the hope that Stella will snap out of this mood.

“So what else would all of the procedures have in common? Cos the procedures themselves were all different, so it can’t be that, and they were all on different parts of the body, so it can’t be affecting a certain organ or anything like that.”

“Mmmmmmm.” Ashley decides to let this non response fly, as she’s on a roll thought wise.

“So really the only thing in common, is the surgery aspect…” a lightbulb moment for Ashley. “…and what does all surgery have in common?” She looks over to Stella expectantly, but she’s just staring into space, playing with the car keys.

“Stella. Stella.” Her head snaps up, and she looks over to Ashley, her eyes full of sadness, Ashley hates seeing her like this. “Come on Stella. Don’t let that jerk get to you like this.”

Stella see’s the concern etched on Eden’s face, and decides to let it go and get her head back into the case, she shakes her head, as if shaking the negative thoughts away. “You’re right, you’re right. I’m fine. I’m back in the case.”

Ashley knows a brave face when she sees one. Drastic action is needed.

“Stella look at me.” She looks up into her eyes, Ashley can still see the doubt in her deep blue eyes, unbelievable. She’s looking at Eden expectantly, and the younger woman realises Stella is waiting for her to say something. “You’re beautiful. Like seriously one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in real life.”

This causes Stella to smile, and her heart explodes, she can barely breathe. Ashley sees the sparkle return to Stella’s eyes, her work here is done. Stella doesn’t stop to think, she grabs Eden and envelopes her into a hug. 

“Thank you.” She whispers into Eden’s neck, who’s a bit taken aback by the display of affection. Not that she's complaining of course. She has to swallow down her emotion at Stella’s next words. “You always make me feel better.” Ashley has to close her eyes. She can feel a lump forming in her throat. Stella feels at home in Ashley’s arms with her face buried in the crook of her neck. She gets lost in the moment.

Ashley feels it’s all getting a bit intense, and she pulls back from the hug. They lock eyes, Stella can’t seem to look away. Ashley is too scared to do anything. She blinks, and looks away, and the moment is gone.

“Yeah so as I was saying, the only other thing in common, is the anaesthetic.” The desire that had been apparent in Stella’s eyes seconds ago quickly disappears. She almost kissed me is Stella’s current thought, but she quickly gets her focus back. Ashley starts to flip through the folders on her knee, looking for the evidence to confirm her theory.

“Yep, yep, they all had different procedures, but they all needed to be put to sleep using a general anaesthetic.” She looks up from the folder at Stella who’s just looking back smiling.

“You’re a genius Eden. We’ve gotta get the evidence linking the deaths to the anaesthetic.” With that Stella gets the keys in the ignition and they drive off back towards the lab with a renewed vigour.

XXXXXXXXX

The anaesthetic turned out to be the case breaker. The good Doctor had been importing some cheap third world stuff from god knows where, completely illegal to use in the US. The 3 victims all had Asthma, something which had made them particularly susceptible. He won’t go down for murder unfortunately, but gross negligence manslaughter. The smarmy smile certainly evaporated from his face when Stella and Ashley charged him.

It’s currently 6.30pm, Ashley is heading for the exit, it’s been a long day, and she is looking forward to getting out of the lab.

Stella is currently lost in her own thoughts in the changing room. She’s sitting on the bench in the middle of the room. Now the euphoria of the arrest is wearing off, all of today’s goings on are starting to get to her. 

Not so much the Doctor Lovely stuff, she can just about cope with what he did. But what happened in car afterwards with Eden, she really thought they were going to kiss. What scared her the most was how much she wanted it in that moment. All the questions she’s been posing to herself recently are swirling around her brain. Did she want to be with Eden? Maybe? But to be in a public relationship with her, with another woman, which is all it would be to outsiders. She's not ready for that. Is it because she’s embarrassed? She’s not sure. She would be immensely proud to be with Eden, maybe embarrassed isn’t the correct word, it seems too harsh.

Stella hasn’t noticed Ashley in the door way. On her way to the elevator the younger woman had glanced into the changing room. She saw Stella slumped, it was obvious there was something wrong with her. Ashley has just assumed it’s the Doctor, so she sets her bag down at the door and walks into the room, gently closing the door behind her. Stella doesn’t seem to have noticed that she is in the room, as she exhales loudly.

“Stella?” she looks up at Ashley slightly startled, there’s a ghost of a smile on her face, as she is genuinely happy to see her, she always is. All Ashley sees is her eyes filled with sorrow, she looks tired. Ashley sits down on the bench next to her.

“Is everything okay?” She shakes her head as if she's trying to shake the sorrow right out. She plasters an obviously fake smile onto her face and looks up.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She’s lying, they both know it.

Ashley just looks at her. She knows, that Stella knows, that she isn’t buying any of this fakeness.

“Stella, this is me. You can talk to me.” Stella can’t take the emotion of it anymore, she looks away from Eden. Ashley still thinks this is all down to Doctor Lovely, she can’t help but be confused however, she didn’t think Stella would let something like that get to her this much. Ashley feels sick at the thought that the idiot has made her feel like this. She can’t shake the feeling that it’s just not like her, she’s usually so confident.

Ashley places her hand on Stella’s shoulder, causing her to look at her again. When she looks into Ashley’s eyes, she can see they are glistening with tears, this breaks Ashley’s heart. Without thinking she moves her hand from Stella’s shoulder up to her cheek, and begins to caress her cheek with her thumb. Ashley can feel her heart beating through her chest, she daren’t breathe. Stella leans into her touch, she closes her eyes and lets the feeling of comfort wash over her. It’s exactly what she needs at this precise moment in time.

“Is this about what happened earlier?” Stella opens her eyes, of course it is about what happened earlier. Stella knows Ashley is referring to what happened at the clinic, which is of course only half of the story. 

Ashley reads the expression on Stella’s face as meaning that her current mood is down to the Doctor. She can’t believe it, how can Stella think she is anything but stunningly beautiful. Ashley’s emotions take over, her brain doesn’t have control over her actions at the moment. 

She can feel herself leaning in towards Stella. The stare between them never breaks, eyes locked. Stella knows what is about to happen. She has a nervous, excited, panicked feeling growing in her stomach. But knowing what’s about to happen, she wants it to happen. She doesn’t move away, she just waits. Ashley sees the older woman’s eyes grow dark the closer she gets.

It seems like an eternity, but eventually their lips meet. Ashley gently kisses her at first, to see if she responds, she’s fully prepared for her to pull away and ask her what the hell she thinks she’s doing. But Stella doesn’t, she kisses her back, responding slowly at first. She can’t believe how right this feels, and becomes lost in the kiss. The passion sparks between them quickly, and the kiss becomes more vigorous. Ashley moves her hand from her face into her hair, and Stella moves her hands to Ashley’s back, pulling her in closer trying to taste more of her. It’s wonderful, now it’s Ashley’s turn to be engrossed in the kiss. 

All of a sudden the panic starts to rise in Stella’s brain, all those question from a few moments ago return, a relationship with a woman, the embarrassment? Was it embarrassment? She isn’t sure, but her anxiety reaches the maximum level. She regrets her next action almost as soon as she’s done it.

Ashley is taken by surprise, she doesn’t actually know what’s happened straight away, there is just a smack of pain through her left cheeks and Stella’s lips have gone. It takes a few seconds for her to compose herself and for her brain to actually catch up to reality. When it finally does catch up, it’s like a haze lifting. She looks over to the door of the changing room, Stella is stood looking as shocked as Ashley, but with tears streaming down her face. She can’t actually believe what she’s just done, Ashley looks so hurt. It’s at this point Ashley realises Stella has slapped her, and that what’s caused the searing pain down the left hand side of her face.

She looks over to Stella again, who can’t bear to look at the hurt she’s caused Ashley. Both physically, there’s a massive red mark on the side of her face, and emotionally, her eyes are filling up with tears and her bottom lip is starting to wobble. Stella just bolts out of the changing room and runs for her office, she can’t deal with this. Ashley, who is still sitting on the bench, just leans forward and puts her head in her hands. Well that went well. She can feel the tears roll down into her hands. What has she done?

XXXXXXXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Twitter: Eden_Ashley_Chr


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: CSI New York and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. No infringement is intended. Eden Ashley is an original character. All mine.

The morning after the night before. Ashley is feeling rather sheepish as she enters the lab. She has quite the black eye, which she isn’t looking forward to explaining to everybody. Everybody of course except Stella. She skulks into the break room, and finds Adam in there making coffee.

“Hey Princess. You want?” Adam clocked her enter the room, but still has his back to Ashley and hasn’t properly looked over at her yet.

“Yeah sure.” The fact that Ashley totally lets slide his ‘Princess’ jibe causes him concern and makes him take notice, he swings around to face his friend. He instantly sees the massive shiner. He’s over to Ashley in an instant, inspecting her, slightly amused.

“Whoa, what happened to you?” Ashley can see the playfulness in Adam’s eyes, she’s actually glad he’s not taking it too seriously, something she’s sure not to expect from Mac.

“I don’t really wanna talk about it. What do you reckon, can I get away with wearing shades when Mac hands out assignments?” She smiles trying to joke her way through this. But the way she’s shifting her weight side to side, Adam can tell she’s nervous. He knows when not to push Ashley. This is definitely one of those times.

“If you wanna talk about it, you know where I am. We can go get a drink or something later?”

“Now that sounds like a great idea. I’ll catch you later.” With this Ashley heads out of the break room and strides towards the Main lab. Coffee in hand. When she arrives everyone is already in there. Ashley feels sick. Nervous.

Stella looks up as the door of the main lab swings open, and sees Eden step in. She looks tired. Stella immediately sees the black eye, and her heart sinks into the pit of her stomach. Ashley makes the mistake of looking up, and sees Stella’s gaze fixated on her. She can’t bear to make eye contact, so she looks away instantly and starts to concentrate on her coffee, like it’s the most interesting thing she’s ever laid eyes on.

Mac has obviously seen the black eye, as has everybody else in the room. Ashley keeps her head down, waiting for the inevitable to come. Mac doesn’t disappoint.

“Wow Ashley, you look like you’ve gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.” It isn’t a question as such, but Ashley knows that Mac expects an explanation. Obviously the truth isn’t an option. She’s been working on an elaborate back story. Well, not so much elaborate but hopefully believable at least.

“I was playing Soccer after work last night. I took an elbow to the face.” She tries to make it sound as convincing as possible. Stella is impressed, and slightly relieved that Eden hasn’t dropped her in it.

Mac at least gives the impression that he believes the story. “Ouch. Well maybe its best if you stick to lab work today. We don’t one of New York’s finest strolling around public sporting that.”

Ashley can’t help but feel pissed off. She’s already in a foul mood after having no sleep last. She’d been in emotional hell all night. Now getting kicked off assignments. Admittedly she’s mad at herself more than anything else, but mad as hell all the same. But there isn’t really anything she can she do, so she swallows her anger and complies.

“Fine.” Ashley huff’s out of the main lab without further word and heads towards one of the smaller labs. She prepares to make herself comfortable for the rest of the day. In the back of her mind, she knows at some point today she is going to have to talk to Stella.

Stella had watched the exchange between Eden and Mac and felt really uncomfortable. She knows this is all her fault. She feels bad enough about the black eye, and now Eden has been thrown on desk duty because of it. Stella is still in inner turmoil over the kiss, and over Eden in general. She’s still so confused about what she actually wants and how she actually feels. Her head and heart are in mass conflict. Even she isn’t sure Herselt yet which is going to win out.

XXXXXXXXX

It’s about two thirds of the way through shift, and so far Stella has managed to avoid Eden. This has of course been made easier by the fact that she's been out on assignment all day, and Eden is still locked away in the lab.

She’s back in her office now though. Her suspect is down in the P.D. being questioned by Flack. She finds herself with an hour to kill. Still fighting with her emotions over what happened last night with Eden, she found herself reaching for the telephone in her office about five minutes ago. She’s just replaced the receiver and she already has a feeling that she’s going to regret making that call. But she has come to one decision; she needs to see if these feelings for Eden are real, or if they just exist in this separate ‘CSI world’ that they spend the majority of their time in.

She has just called Mark Oliver. He works in the DA’s office, and had been flirting with her a few weeks ago. He left her his card, and she honestly had no intention of ever using it. But now with her head all over the place, she just needs some perspective. So she has just arranged to meet him for drinks after work. She already isn’t looking forward to it.

Stella is pulled from her thoughts by a knock at her office door. She looks up to see Eden through the glass door. She can’t help the smile that forms on her face as she sees the younger woman. Eden still looks as uneasy as she did earlier in the main lab.

Ashley had heard Stella was back in the building and decides she’s going to get this out of the way sooner rather than later. Stella waves her into the office. Ashley feels defeated already. She’s resigned herself to the fact that nothing romantic is ever going to happen between her and Stella. The slap was pretty conclusive evidence of that. So this is about damage limitation, she still wants the two of them to be friends if it’s at all possible.

Ashley has been standing in Stella’s office for a minute or so now, and still hasn’t said anything. Stella can see about a million thoughts racing through Eden’s mind, she decides to try and help her along a little. “Eden, can I help you?”

Ashley looks up at the use of her name. She loves how Stella is the only person at the lab to use her first name. She mentally shakes her head, these are exactly the kind of thoughts she needs to get rid of. She decides to just power through and get it all out.

“Erm, yeah. I just wanted to say how sorry I am about yesterday. I was out of order. And it won’t happen again.” Not for the first time today Ashley can’t bear to look at Stella, so she just looks at her own feet, feeling rather pathetic and rather open.

Stella can feel her chest getting tighter. Eden is blaming herself for it all. She listens as she continues. “I don’t know what came over me. I never meant to make you feel uncomfortable, and I hope we can go back to being friends.”

At this point Ashley composes herself and looks up at Stella. She can’t read the expression on her face. Mainly because Stella doesn’t really know what to think, this is just adding to all of her previous confusion. She knows however, that she isn’t about to let Eden take all of the blame and all of the responsibility for the kiss.

“Eden don’t be so hard on yourself, I kissed you back remember.” And remember they do, the sentence takes them both directly back to the kiss last night. They both get shivers at the memory and the electricity from last night returns between their gaze. They both become captivated in the other’s eyes again.

They’re broken from the moment by Flack bursting into the office.

“Hey Ashley. Adam told me you’d been fighting.”Flack laughs. 

Ashley rolls her eyes. “I haven’t been fighting.”

“Hey okay, I submit, I submit.” Ashley smiles at his attempt at humour. “He also said something about drinks later?”

“Yeah, you in? Knicks are playing too.”

“You bet. Anything to cheer my favourite lady up.” He winks at Ashley then turns his attention to Stella, he obviously has an update on their case. Ashley takes this as he signal to leave. Stella watches her go, smiling, but more confused than ever.

XXXXXXXXX

It’s finally the end of shift, and it’s been an awful day for Ashley. She cannot wait to meet Adam and Flack and have a boat load of drinks. She’s running a little late and as a result has arranged to meet them at the bar. She’s just heading for the elevator, when she notices a man looking lost in the foyer. Ashley makes the instant judgment that the guy looks a complete sleaze. Sharp suit, greasy hair, shark like smile. She instantly dislikes him. So much so that she walks straight past him, ignoring his apparent confusion and pushes the button for the elevator.

“Excuse me miss.” The greasy man, has done nothing to endear himself to her. How patronising. She turns to face him. He needs no invitation to speak it seems. “My name is Mark Oliver. I’m looking for Stella Bonasera?”

“She’s just about to finish her shift, come back tomorrow.” Ashley is in no mood to be dealing with this jackass.

“Oh, I know she’s finished. I’m her date. We’re going for drinks and dancing.” This hits Ashley hard. It’s literally like she has been stabbed through the heart. She actually struggles to breathe for a second. The sleaze ball continues. “Do you know how long she is likely to be?”

The anger that she’s felt all day rises again. Ashley doesn’t know why she's so mad. If Stella wants to date she’s perfectly entitled to. She certainly has no right to be angry about it. Anger is quickly replaced by pain. She's surprised at how hurt she feels by this. She has to get away from this man.

“Wait here, I’ll go and see how long she’s likely to be.” She storms to Stella’s office and walks straight in, trying her best to keep her emotions in check.

Stella is startled, but again a smile instantly forms on her face when she sees it’s Eden. It vanishes just as quickly when she sees the look on her face.

“Hey Eden, I thought you were going for drinks with the guys. Is everything okay?” Stella obviously already knows the answer to her question is no.

Ashley is determined to try keep her anger in check, and not act like an idiot with Stella. She really doesn’t want to jeopardise the already unstable friendship they have.

“Everything is fine. I was just heading out and I bumped into your date at the elevator. He wants to know how long you’re going to be. What should I tell him?”

As hard as she tries, Ashley can’t mask the pain in her voice. She just stands arms folded, obviously fake smile painted on her face, looking at Stella. Waiting for an answer.

Stella feels hopeless. At least she knows what’s wrong now. If she’s honest she had completely forgotten that she had arranged to meet Mark, which is probably why he’s shown up here. Her mind has been so focused on her case, and on Eden that everything else dropped out of her head.

She looks up at Eden, she knows there’s no point trying to explain. It clear that the barriers have gone up. Eden’s her face lacks the emotion that her voice gave away only moments earlier.

Resignedly she confirms. “I’ll be out in a second.”

“Great I’ll let him know.” Another fake smile before Ashley just turns and walks out of the office. She really needs a drink now, what a crappy end to a crappy day.

Stella tidies away the files on her desk, resigned to the fact that she has hurt the woman she loves, again. Possibly beyond repair this time. Then it dawns on Stella, Loves? It looks as though her heart may well be winning out over her head after all. Either way it’s going to be a long night. She can hardly cancel the date with Mark now he’s in the building.

XXXXXXXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.
> 
> As always, please do let me know what you think.
> 
> On twitter - Eden_Ashley_Chr


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: CSI New York and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. No infringement is intended. Eden Ashley is an original character. All mine.

A week or so has passed since Stella had her date with Mark. It was awful, she cringes just recalling it. Mark thought that buying her dinner, meant he was going home with her. In the end she had to make it abundantly clear that, that wasn’t going to happen. His confidence certainly took a bashing.

Stella can’t decide if Eden is avoiding her, or if it's just coincidence that they hadn’t really had a chance to talk. She guesses unfortunately, that it is probably the former. She sighs. Another shift has just come to an end, and she hasn’t really seen Eden all day, her heart aches at the thought. She isn’t surprised though, for all Eden know’s Stella is still dating Mark. Stella decides that rather than going back to an empty apartment. Again. She may as well stay in her office and catch up on paperwork. Not for the first time in the last week.

Ashley on the other hand has just left the building. She has been feeling more and more despondent about the whole Stella situation. The thought of her and Mark together is killing her. She has been drinking a lot recently, in fact she's considering hitting a bar right now. Ashley knows she’s in self-destruct mode right now. She also know she has to snap out of it, plenty more fish in the sea and all that. She’s disturbed from her thoughts by someone calling her name. Unfortunately she recognises the smarmy voice.

“Detective Ashley. Hi, I thought I recognised you.” Mark Oliver.

“Mr Oliver. How are you? I think Stella’s working late tonight.” He looks confused.

“Stella? She didn’t tell you? We only went out that once.” Ashley lifts her head, and looks at him like he’s just grown a second face. He obviously doesn’t notice, too wrapped up in himself. The enormity of his words sink in with Ashley. It pulls her out of the funk she’s been in, instantly. Newly perked up she decides she’s going to have some fun with this idiot.

“Really? Not quite the stud you think you are then hey?”

“Ha, well it’s hard with someone as frigid as Bonasera.” Ashley clenches her teeth. Her blood is quite literally boiling. “She sold me some story about not believing in sex before marriage. So I kicked her to the kerb.”

Ashley can’t help the laugh that escapes lips. “Stella told you she doesn’t believe in sex before marriage. That is the funniest thing I’ve heard. I think maybe she just didn’t believe in sex with you, full stop.”

Oliver seems to be a little wounded by this comment, but he lets it slide. It will take more than that to break his confidence. “Yeah, well forget about her, I need a real woman who knows how to satisfy a man. So what do you say, can I buy you a drink?”

Ashley is in disbelief. Her mouth is literally hanging open. Talk about the wrong audience. “Well for starters I wouldn’t have a clue how to satisfy a man.”

“Aw, you’re not a goody two shoes like your boss are you? There was a time when NYPD knew how to have a good time.”

“I'm far from good. I’m also far from straight.” The penny seems to drop immediately. Maybe Oliver isn’t as stupid as he looks after all.

“You’re a dyke?” There is a vicious undertone to his voice. Ashley instantly feels uncomfortable, it causes her to glance around the street. She notices for the first time that it’s pretty empty, not to mention pretty pitch black. She doesn’t have time to dwell on it, as he continues to speak.

“Well that explains a lot. Maybe it's catching. Maybe that’s why Stella wasn’t interested.”

“Or maybe it’s just because you’re an idiot.” Ashley can’t help it. The venom just rolls off her tongue, how dare he speak ill of Stella. She immediately regrets it due to their current situation. It seems to tip Oliver over the edge. He grabs hold of her and pushes her into a dark alley.

“Maybe I should teach you some manners.” Ashley sees a crazy look in his eyes, and smells alcohol on his breath. He has her up against the wall, and she starts to struggle against him. Ashley’s mind can’t help but go back to that place ten years ago. She tries to block it out, but the panic starts to rise in her. Oliver has his face right in her face now, and he continues to taunt her.

“You know what women like you need?” He doesn’t wait for an answer, which is good because Ashley is incapable of giving him one. “You need a real man, to show you what you’re missing.”

He smirks as he forces his lips onto Ashley’s. Assaulting them. A complete contrast to the last kiss she had savoured with Stella. His actions take her by surprise, so much so that it takes her brain a few seconds to catch up. When it does, she bites down hard, taking his bottom lip into her mouth, and piercing it with her teeth. It has the desired effect. She can immediately taste blood. He stops what he’s doing immediately. He draws back with his hand covering his mouth. But in a split second he must see red and punches Ashley square in the face. Right on the nose, blood everywhere.

“You bitch. I can’t believe you bit me.” Oliver staggers out of the alley. Ashley takes starts to gasp, literally sucking in as much air as she can manage. Frantically trying to regain her composure. She was so frightened just then. That was a little too close to history repeating itself. She begins to sob, she struggles to get the emotion under control. She knows she needs to get out of this alley. She quickly makes the decision that, rather than walk the streets of New York covered in blood, she will head back up to the lab to clean up. She takes the back way, she really isn’t in the mood to answer any questions about her current state.

A few minutes later when Ashley reaches the lab, she’s happy to see that its relatively empty. Just a few cleaners and lab techs mulling around. She keeps her head down to avoid prying eyes, and no one really notices her thankfully. She stops dead in her tracks when she sees the light on in Stella’s office. Because of the way she’s entered the lab, the back way, she now has to pass Stella’s office to get to the locker room. Dammit, she hasn’t thought this through. 

Alternative ways to get to the locker room are currently racing through her mind. Too late, the door to Stella’s office opens.

Stella decides she needs coffee. She’s heading to the break room but, as soon as she steps out of her office she can feel someone’s presence. She looks to her right, and is alarmed to see Eden. Blood stained and tear stained. Panic hits the older woman immediately and she’s over to Eden in an instant, full of concern.

“Eden, what the hell happened?” Her hands are immediately on her face, inspecting her nose which appears to have taken the brunt of whatever it is that has happened. Her heart breaks when she sees fresh tears forming in her eyes.

“I bumped into your boyfriend outside.” Eden moves her face out of Stella’s reach.

“My what?” Then it dawns on Stella. “Mark Oliver? He did this to you?” Ashley just nods and looks away.

Stella is furious, now it’s her blood that begins to boil. “I’m going to kill him.” 

The only thought she has in her head is to get him. She runs back into her office and grabs her coat, before immediately heading to the elevator. She is going to get the bastard. Then she’s going to comfort Eden as much as the younger woman will allow her to.

Ashley is too emotional to care, she just heads for the locker room. She starts to remove her clothes, well the blood stained ones anyway. She strips to her bra and jeans and then heads over to the full length mirror to assess the damage. Her face is a mess. She feels no emotion, just takes a sponge and dips it into hot water, and just methodically starts to clean the blood from her face. Luckily her nose doesn’t seem to be broken, thank god the last thing she wants to do is have to have a trip to the E.R. Her nose, although not pouring with blood anymore, is still bleeding, so she lies down on the bench in the middle of the room and hopes gravity will do its job and stop the flow.

It’s in this position Stella finds her twenty minutes later. She lowers herself down and sits on the bench beside her. Aching to reach out and touch her. But, knowing what the younger woman has just been through, and the fact that the two of them aren’t exactly on the best of terms right now, she refrains. Her initial anger has subsided, mainly due to the fact that she managed to grab Flack on her way out. They found Oliver in a local bar and promptly arrested him for assaulting a police officer. They decided to let him stew in the cells for the night. Flack can deal with him tomorrow. Once again Stella can’t believe she has be the cause of so much pain for Eden.

“We arrested him.”

Ashley sits up, the bleeding has finally stopped. “Good. That guy is a real piece of work, what did you ever see in him?”

“I didn’t.” Stella answers honestly. She feels so stupid.

Ashley is too tired and on the verge of being far too emotional, to get caught up in anything else with Stella right now. She decides the best course of action is to leave. She grabs a spare shirt from her locker, grabs her bag and heads to leave for the second time today. Hopefully this exit will be a lot more successful.

“I’m tired, I'm going to head home.”

“Do you need a ride?” Stella desperately wants to talk to Eden, to hold her. Just to try and make her feel better, or give her a dash of comfort. But the state she’s in right now she doesn’t want to push her.

“Nah I’m okay thanks. Listen I think I might take the day off tomorrow.”

“Yeah absolutely. I’ll clear it with Mac. Take as much time as you need.”

“Thanks, just the one day should be fine, I'm just really tired. I wanna sleep, and forget any of this ever happened.”

As an exhausted Ashley heads for the exit, Stella hopes Eden is only referring to the events of today when she says she wants to forget. Not about Stella completely. She watches her leave. When the locker room door closes behind the detective, Stella slumps back onto the bench and begins to sob.

She’s supposed to protect the people she loves, and Eden just keeps getting hurt, over and over again. Stella longs to hold her and make everything better. Her heart actually aches because she is not with her right now. This is getting beyond a joke. It’s at this moment Stella finally decides that she needs to tell Eden how she feels, she cannot bear to be without her any longer, and she no longer cares what the repercussions of that are, or what anyone else thinks. She’s not scared to love Eden anymore.

But not tonight, tonight she will let her rest. With this thought clear in her mind Stella wipes her tears, confident and excited about what tomorrow may hold.

Heart 1 Head 0.

XXXXXXXXX

The time has finally arrived. Stella has just finished work. She jumped straight into her car and headed over to Eden’s apartment building. She’s just pulled up outside, and is impressed. She knew Eden’s address and knew it was a nice part of town, but she’s never actually been here before. It’s an impressive building, with a concierge and everything.

Stella is nervous, but she tries to swallow it. She keeps repeating over and over again in her head ‘this is going to happen’. She heads into the building smiling at the aforementioned concierge as she passes, he tips his hat at her, which makes her chuckle, just like in the movies. She feels really, really happy.

Eden is sitting on her balcony feet up just looking out over the city. She loves sitting up here in the evening, looking out at New York. She loves this place. She is feeling a lot better about life today, especially after the massive sleep she had last night. The depression that has engulfed her for the past few weeks, gone. She’s trying to convince herself that this has nothing to do with finding out that Stella isn’t seeing Mark Oliver, but it obviously does. There is no two ways about it, she is hooked on Stella Bonasera.

She’s slightly startled when the buzzer for her apartment goes off, she isn’t expecting anyone. She assumes it must be Adam coming round to check on her. She is definitely not expecting to see Stella standing there when she looks through the peep hole. Eden opens the door with a beaming smile on her face, which is reciprocated by Stella.

“I see you’re in a better mood than yesterday.” Stella smiles at Eden, her nerves melting away as soon as she sees Eden smiling again.

“Stella, hey. Come on in.” Ashley opens the door, locking it behind them once Stella steps through. Ashley heads straight through the living room, back out onto the balcony. Stella follows and is instantly mesmerised by the view.

“Wow Eden, this view is to die for.”

Ashley smiles, Stella looks like a kid on Christmas morning, she doesn’t respond to Stella’s comment, just drinks her in. Beautiful.

Stella finally tears her eyes away from New York City, and gives Eden all of her attention. “This apartment is very impressive. I thought you said you took a pay cut to come here?”

Ashley can’t help but laugh, seems Stella remembers everything she's ever said to her. “I did take a pay cut. I have a really nice grandmother, who also happens to be loaded.”

“Rich grandparents hey? You never mentioned that before.”

“Well I only reveal on a need to know basis, otherwise I’d never know if the girls were just after me for the money.”

Stella chuckles, she hasn’t stopped smiling since she arrived here. She loves how comfortable they are with one another. It’s so natural, it feels so right. “Well I gotta say this apartment probably does make you a much more attractive prospect.”

Ashley raises her eyebrow at Stella referring to her as an attractive prospect, not really sure how she should react. She settles on the insanely happy smile she's had plastered on her face for the last few minutes.

Stella decides there’s no time like the present to do what she has come here to do. She sits down next to Eden, who has gone back to gazing out over the city.

“So how’s your nose?” Stella quickly changes the subject to yesterday.

Ashley looks back over at Stella growing slightly, a tension seems to descend on them both. It’s like they both know something is about to happen, but Ashley isn’t sure what. Which scares her a little. “It's okay, just a bit sore. But not broken thank god, that wouldn’t have been a good look.”

“He was charged with assaulting a police officer this morning. He’s going to plead guilty. He’ll lose his job.”

“Good.” Ashley can’t help but think about that idiot, and how he made her feel last night. How she’s felt this whole time thinking that Stella was dating him. 

Stella watches the emotion all over Eden’s face and she feels like she needs to explain. “I want you to know why I went out with him.” 

Ashley’s awkwardness increases ten fold. ” Stella you don’t have too, it’s really none of my business.”

“Isn’t it? And besides I want to tell you.” Stella is determined she is going to explain herself. Ashley can sense this, so she motions for her to continue.

“When we kissed.” Ashley can feel her cheeks starting to burn. She turns away from Stella so she can’t see her embarrassment. Stella doesn’t seem to have noticed, she continues. “It blew me away. I didn’t know what to feel. I panicked. I never did apologise for slapping you.”

“You don’t have to, I shouldn’t have kissed you.” Stella has Ashley’s full attention now. Ashley still has no idea what’s going on, but she can feel the air leaving her lungs. Must remember to breathe.

“Eden I wanted that kiss as much as you did, more even. That’s what freaked me out, I didn’t lash out because I didn’t want to kiss you, it was because I wanted to so much. And I couldn’t handle what that meant. I have never been attracted to a woman before. I thought going out with Mark, would give me some perspective.”

Ashley’s breathing pattern is still all over the place, but she does manage to form some words. “And did it?”

“It made me see things clearer than I ever have before. When I saw how hurt you were when you found out about it. I hated myself for hurting you. I was worried I couldn’t be in a relationship with a woman, but I was worried about it for all the wrong reasons, I was more worried about what other people would think.”

Ashley can’t help but notice that most of what Stella just said was in the past tense. “’was worried’ aren’t you anymore?”

Stella smiles, she’s tempted to tease Eden but quickly decides that would be far too cruel. “Well I guess I realised that what I want is probably far more important than what other people think of me.”

Ashley knows she’s probably about to sound really dense, but she has to be absolutely sure about what Stella saying here. “And what do you want?”

Stella smiles. Eden is cute when she’s nervous. She decides to spell it out as simply as she can. “You.”

Ashley’s heart explodes. But, she has to make sure that Stella is definitely sure this is what she wants. “Are you sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for? I know you say you don’t care what people think, but it can be pretty hard.”

“I think as long as I’ve got you by my side, I can get through anything. That is, if you want to be by my side.” Stella is suddenly very aware that Ashley hasn’t actually said she has feelings for her back.

She needn’t have worried. “Of course I do. God Stella, I’ve wanted to be with you since the moment I met you. Even though you were a bitch.”

Stella’s relief is obvious. She exhales shakily, and looks over at Ashley, who is smirking back at her,. She really, really wants to kiss Stella but is understandably apprehensive after the last time. “I really want to kiss you. Just checking that it’s okay, y’know, after last time?”

Stella laughs, and moves towards Eden, grabbing her face in her hands. They both lean in to one another, and their lips meet. It’s the most perfect kiss. It starts slowly, but it’s filled with emotion, filled with love. Ashley pulls back. “I can’t believe this happening.”

“I know.” It was all Stella could manage. She needs Eden’s lips back on hers. She pulls her back in. Ashley is enjoying this, especially since this kiss isn’t ending in a black eye. 

The passion continues to grow between them. The kiss becomes a lot more forceful, this time its Stella that pulls back, Ashley is worried that maybe that was getting a bit too heated, assuming that Stella will want to take things slowly. Which is why she is astounded by Stella’s next words.

“Take me to bed.” Stella is longing for this she needs Eden to touch her. She sees the surprise in Eden’s eyes, she was probably expecting her to want to take things steady. But the truth is, Stella feels like they have been acting slowly enough.

“Are you sure?” The desire in Stella’s eyes gives her the answer. But just in case that wasn’t enough, Stella rises from the couch, takes Eden’s hand, pulling her up. She leads her inside without saying a word, Eden directs her to the bedroom, and Stella pulls her in closing the door behind them.

XXXXXXXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Let me know what you think.
> 
> On Twitter - Eden_Ashley_Chr


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: CSI New York and its characters are the property of Jerry Bruckheimer and CBS. No infringement is intended. Eden Ashley is an original character. All mine.

The morning after the night before, part two. Stella is asleep. Feeling extremely content, reminiscing in her dreams about the amazing night she has just shared with Eden. After they had made love the first time, they had ordered Chinese food. They were famished, and they talked, not about anything really, just comfortable happy chatter. After that they had gone back to bed, only actually falling into an exhausted slumber about an hour or so ago. 

Stella, despite her confidence at the beginning of the evening, had been worried about a physical relationship with Eden, having never been with a woman before. She needn’t have, it was amazing, the way Eden made her feel, the way Eden reacted to her touch, it was mind blowing. She can’t believe she hadn’t tried it earlier.

Stella is disturbed from her thoughts by a shrill sound, loud enough to wake her. She fights against the tiredness, her brain desperately trying to wake up to decipher what the noise is. As she starts to wake up the first thing she realises is that she’s in Eden’s arms. She could get used to this. The next thing she realises is that the shrill noise is her mobile phone ringing. This wakes her up fully, if someone is calling her at this time, it must be important.

She quickly releases herself from Eden’s arms careful not to wake her, and starts to hunt through the discarded clothes on the floor. She quickly finds her cell phone, looking at the caller I.D. it’s Mac. It must be important. She quickly answers. “Bonasera” She whispers, as somehow the phone itself hasn’t woken up Eden, so she doesn’t want to.

“Stella, its Mac, I need you at the lab ASAP, Marjorie McAllister has been kidnapped.”

It takes Stella a few minutes to digest the information, she’s sure she recognises that name. “Marjorie McAllister?” The penny drops. “The Mayor’s sister?”

“Yes.” Mac confirms.

This is huge. “I’m on my way.”

“Stella why are you whispering?” 

“Mac it’s the middle of the night.” Stella quickly hangs up before Mac can question her further. 

A few minutes later she’s redressed back into her clothes from last night, and she’s in a hurry. Needing to go home and change before she head into the lab. She can’t turn up for work in the same clothes as yesterday. When she’s gathered together everything she needs, she looks over at Eden, who is unbelievably still asleep. She looks so beautiful and serene. Stella bends down and kisses her on the forehead. She can feel her heart swell to bursting point, more sure than ever that her decision to pursue the younger woman was the right one. Eden is making her unbelievably happy already. She still can’t quite believe it. A woman, she would never have guessed, so who knows how the team will react. A problem for another day.

She would have left a note for Eden, but she couldn’t find anything to write on, and really didn’t have time to go hunting for a pen and paper. She figures she will just call her at a more reasonable hour.

XXXXXXXXX

Ashley is awoken by her alarm. Its 6am, she has slept extremely well. She opens her eyes and smiles as she remembers the night before. It was perfect, even better than she had ever imagined, and she’d imagined it a lot! She reaches out to touch focus of her thoughts, only to find her bed empty. No sign of Stella. She jumps up and out of bed, pulling on her dressing gown. On further inspection of her apartment, she realises Stella is nowhere to be found, nor is any of her stuff. If it hadn’t been for the empty Chinese carton’s Ashley would have wondered if Stella had ever been there. She tries not to panic too much. She heads for the shower, due to meet Adam before work for basketball.

It’s around an hour later Ashley is on court with Adam. He knows there’s something wrong with her, the fact that he’s winning is his first clue. She seems very distracted.

“Come on princess, this is too easy.”

“Sorry Adam, I guess I’m not really in the mood.” All she can think about is Stella, and how she must have had a change of heart, and bolted from her apartment this morning. She can’t think of any other reason Stella would have left with so much as a good bye.

“Okay, I know there's something wrong with you, when you don’t smack me for calling you ‘princess’. You wanna talk about it?”

Ashley stops with the ball, she really wants to talk to someone, she knows she can trust Adam, she would trust him with her life. “If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone.”

“Scouts honour.” He beams at her whilst trying to do the scout signal with his fingers.

Ashley smiles. “I’m serious Adam, this can’t go any further.”

“Hey. This is me.”

The smile disappears from Adam’s face, he’s serious. Ashley knows he wouldn’t say a word. “I slept with Stella.”

The look of disbelief on Adam’s face is priceless. If Ashley wasn’t feeling so down about it, she would have laughed.

“Well there’s my naughty dreams taken care of for the rest of my life.” 

“Come on Adam, this is serious.”

Adam composes himself and drags his mind from the gutter. “Well that’s great Ashley. I thought that’s what you wanted?”

“It is. But she bolted, just upped and left in the middle of the night, no goodbye, no message no nothing.” Ashley’s heart sinks just remembering her apartment this morning. It felt so cold, so empty, especially after what it had been host to the night before.

“Come on, Stella wouldn’t do that, there must be an explanation.”

“Like what?” Cos Ashley sure as hell couldn’t think of one.

Adam racks his brains. “I dunno Ashley, but I think you should at least wait until you talk to her, before you jump to any conclusions.”

“I’ve been with straight women before, I know how they can be. They convince themselves they have feelings, but in reality it’s all just a big experiment. I guess the results of Stella’s experiment are that it’s not for her. Which is fine y’know, I just wish she had the guts to tell me.”

Ashley sighs, she’s on the verge of tears now. She’s convinced herself that Stella has decided last night was a horrible mistake, which is strange as she seemed to be enjoying at the time.

Adam puts his arms round Ashley and pulls her into a bear hug. “I really think you need to talk to her. I don’t think anything between you two is fake, or experimental, I’ve seen you guys together remember?” 

Ashley just nods still not really convinced. “We should head, we need to hit the showers before shift. I don’t wanna be late.”

They grab their stuff and head to work. Adam is really worried about Ashley. He can tell how hard she’s fallen for Stella. If any of what she said turns out to be true, she’s going to be crushed. He can’t let that happen.

XXXXXXXXX

Stella is wiped, she’s been at work since 5am, and has been none stop and on an hours sleep. Not the best. It’s 3pm and she’s just arrived back at the lab. The Mayor’s sister had been kidnapped in a blackmail ploy. They had found her alive and well and arrested the suspects. Now she just has the evidence to process. She cannot wait to see Eden, she just wants a hug. She knows when she gets it, it will energise her and help her get through the rest of the shift. A smile plays on her lips at the thought.

She’s on route to the lab she assumes Ashley will be in, silently praying she’s not out in the field. She’s stopped in her tracks by Adam, popping his head out of the computer lab.

“Stella, can I have a word?”

Stella reluctantly steps into the lab. “Sure but make it quick Adam, I’m just on my way to somewhere really important.”

Adam takes a deep breath he can’t actually believe he’s about to instigate this conversation, here goes nothing.

“So, I’ve been talking to Ashley this morning.” This gets Stella’s attention, surely Eden hadn’t been bragging about last night. Adam continues.

“She told me about last night.” Wow, Stella can’t believe it, maybe she has been bragging. Stella can feel the anger rising within her, but decides to hear what Adam has to say before losing her temper completely. She prompts him to continue.

“And?”

“Look it’s really none of my business. But if last night was some sort of awful experiment to satisfy your curiosity then you're out of order. You also need to tell Ashley before you hurt her anymore than you already have.” Adam doesn’t take a breath whilst he’s getting his speech out. He’s acutely aware that he’s telling off his boss, and more than a little nervous about that her reaction might be.

“You’re right Adam, it is none of your business.” Stella is fuming that he could think that, but then something stops her in her tracks. He’s been talking to Eden, what if she thinks that too? She starts to panic.

“Why would you say that Adam?”

“Well the way you took off without a word this morning, no call or anything all day. Ashley is pretty bummed.”

Of course she is. Stella didn’t have a chance to think about how it looked, not that she has to explain herself to Adam, but she feels she should he and Eden are obviously very close.

“I got called into work at 4am; I haven’t had a chance to speak to her. I’ve gotta find her.”

“Well she’s out in the field with Danny right now. They shouldn’t be too long.”

“Thanks Adam. I want you to know, I would never hurt her on purpose.”

“That’s what I told her.”

They exchange smiles, and Stella heads to the lab to process her evidence. Anxious.

XXXXXXXXX

Ashley has just got back to the lab with Danny. She still feels awful. Still no word from Stella. She heads straight for the lab to lock away the evidence with Danny close behind, more than ready to bring this awful day to a close. She's not prepared for Stella already being in the lab. She stops in her tracks, shocked. Stella looks up and sees Eden, her lover does not look happy. Danny obviously hasn’t noticed the tension in the room.

“Hey Stella, not seen you all day?”

Stella never breaks eye contact with Eden. “Yeah, I got called onto the Mayor’s case.”

“Oh yeah I saw that on the news, how’s it going?”

Stella doesn’t have time for small talk with Danny. “Yeah we’ve pretty much nailed it. Eden can I see you in my office?”

Ashley is mentally preparing herself for the worst. She swallows hard. “Yeah sure. Danny will you file everything away?”

“No problem kiddo. Seeya tomorrow.” Ashley has officially reached the end of her shift. Something she’s grateful for, at least she can go straight home and cry herself to sleep after Stella has dumped her.

Once they reach Stella’s office, Stella quickly closes the door behind them, and quickly draws the blinds.

“I am so sorry.”

Okay, that wasn’t the start Ashley was expecting. The confused look on Eden’s face spurs Stella on.

“I got called in by Mac at 4am. Massive high profile case, I didn’t wanna wake you, you’d only been asleep about an hour.” This makes Ashley smirk as she remembers last night’s antics again.

“I couldn’t find anything to leave a note with, so I just thought I’d call you this morning. But of course my phone died, ‘cos I didn’t charge it last night, and I just didn’t have a chance to call you. I’ve been out in the field all day.”

Ashley feels so stupid, but also unbelievably relieved. It’s probably in equal measure at the moment. Stella doesn’t give Eden a chance to have any more doubts, she grabs her face in her hands.

“Last night was amazing, better than my wildest expectations. It certainly wasn’t an experiment.” Ashley flinches. She knows by her choice of words that Adam has definitely been talking to Stella. She isn’t sure if she should be mad or not, Stella has obviously been rattled by whatever he had said.

“I am so sorry if I ever made you feel like that.” Stella can’t stress enough that this is where she wants to be.

Ashley shakes her head. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. I guess I'm just a little insecure. I wanted you so much, and I don’t usually get what I want.”

Stella’s heart breaks, she can’t blame her for not feeling secure. She hasn’t really done a lot to make Eden feel safe. She is sure as hell going to try to put that right now though.

“Listen to me. I know it’s taken me a long time to realise this. But I want to be absolutely clear, that I know exactly what I want now. I want to be here with you, and I don’t wanna freak you out, and I don’t know if this is too soon. . .” Stella takes a deep breath. “. . . But I’m completely in love with you Eden Ashley.”

Ashley is overwhelmed. “I'm glad I'm not the only one.” Stella smiles ecstatic that Eden feels the same.

Ashley needs to verbalise it, she’s just a little choked with emotion right now. “I love you too. I mean like in love with you, like head over heels.”

Stella laughs, at Eden stumbling over her words, she is the cutest thing.

Eden laughs too, relief soaring though her body. Stella takes the opportunity to steal a chaste kiss.

“Listen, I loved waking up in your arms this morning, I think you should experience that.” They both laugh again, Ashley mostly at her own stupidity.

“Your shift is done now right?” Ashley nods. “Here take my keys and go to my place, I should only be another hour or so. I want you to be there when I get home.”

Ashley is taken aback. “You sure? I know how private you are about your place.”

“Not with you Honey. I told you I’m in this for the long haul. I want you around.”

Ashley makes a deal with herself there and then. She is never going to jump to conclusions again when it comes to this wonderful woman. She takes the key from Stella. “Okay.”

Stella, elated, turns playful. With a glint in her eye she speaks. “Oh and make sure my dinner is on the table when I get home.”

Ashley bursts out laughing. “Oh it’s like that is it?” She grabs Stella and starts to tickle her, Stella laughs uncontrollably.

“Yeah it’s like that princess.”

“Oh no don’t you start with Adam’s pet names for me!” Another bout of tickling for Stella.

“Okay, okay I promise.” Ashley stops her assault and heads to leave.

“Oh and I will make your dinner, but only because I love you, not because I'm whipped.”

Stella smiles. “I love you too sweetie.”

Ashley leaves with a huge smile on her face, which is mirrored by the one on Stella’s face. Stella rushes back to the lab, she cannot wait to get home tonight.

XXXXXXXXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.
> 
> Let me know what you think.
> 
> On twitter - Eden_Ashley_Chr

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think.
> 
> At twitter on Eden_Ashley_Chr


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